Königs Wusterhausen () is a town in the

Dahme-Spreewald Dahme-Spreewald ( dsb, Wokrejs Damna-Błota) is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of Oder-Spree, Spree-Neiße, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Elbe-Elster and Teltow-Fläming, and by the city ...

district of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

a few kilometers outside

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Geography

Geographical location

Königs Wusterhausen – or "KW" () as it is often called locally – lies on the

Notte Notte is a river of Brandenburg, Germany. It flows into the Dahme in Königs Wusterhausen. See also *List of rivers of Brandenburg A list of rivers of Brandenburg, Germany: A * Alte Oder * Alte Schlaube B * Bäke * Berste * Black Elster * ...

canal and the river Dahme southeast of

. Much further away to the west lies the state capital

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

The abbreviation "KW" is also a reminder of the Königs Wusterhausen radio transmitter as "KW" is also the abbreviation for "Kilowatt" and "Kurzwelle" (German: "Shortwave")

Parts of town

Königs Wusterhausen is the biggest town in the Dahme-Spreewald district. The municipal reforms in 2003 brought about seven amalgamations, since which time the communities of Zeesen, Kablow, Diepensee, Niederlehme, Senzig, Wernsdorf and Zernsdorf have belonged to Königs Wusterhausen, the town's land area has grown sixfold, and its population has doubled.

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung KönigsWusterhausen.pdf, Development of Population since 1875 within the Current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population Development of Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi rule; Red Background: Time of Communist rule) File:Bevölkerungsprognosen KönigsWusterhausen.pdf, Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the

Census in Germany A national census in Germany (german: Volkszählung) was held every five years from 1875 to 1910. After the World Wars, only a few full population censuses have been held, the last in 1987. The most recent census, though not a national census, wa ...

in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2020-2030 (green line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)

History

In 1320, in connection with an investiture on 19 September, the place ("hus to wosterhusen") and the castle got their first known documentary mention. By 1400, the two were both a

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

held by the noble family of Schlieben. In 1500 the estate of Wendisch Wusterhausen was verified for the first time by the ''Schenken'' (a noble title) of Landberg zu Teupitz. On 14 October 1669 Privy Councillor Friedrich von Jena acquired the castle and the village of Wendisch Wusterhausen. In early July 1683, ''Kurprinz'' Friedrich, later (1688) Elector Friedrich III, and later still (1701) King Frederick I of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, acquired the castle and the village. In 1698, ''Kurprinz'' Friedrich Wilhelm was given the castle along with the attached estate as a gift by his father. In 1707, the

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...

and later King Frederick William I in Prussia founded his Company, the "

Potsdam Giants The Potsdam Giants was the name given to Prussian infantry regiment No 6. The regiment was composed of taller-than-average soldiers, and was founded in 1675. It was eventually dissolved in 1806, after the Prussians were defeated by Napoleon. Throug ...

". Between 1713 and 1718, the castle was remodelled as a hunting lodge, which his son Frederick II (Frederick the Great) despised. In 1718, the town, hitherto known as Wusterhausen, was given its current name, Königs Wusterhausen ("Königs" = "king's" in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10678, Königswusterhausen, Arbeiter auf Sendeturm

In 1862,

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...

visited Königs Wusterhausen for his ''

Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg ''Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg'' ("Ramblings through Brandenburg", "Rambles in Brandenburg" or "Walks through the March of Brandenburg") is a five-volume travelogue by the German writer Theodor Fontane, originally published in 1862&ndas ...

''. Since 1901, Königs Wusterhausen has been home to the Brandenburg School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (''Brandenburgische Schule für Blinde und Sehbehinderte''), endowed by the

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

merchant Hermann Schmidt. In 1920 came the launch of Germany's first

radio transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

, the Transmitter Königs Wusterhausen, and in 1935, Königs Wusterhausen was raised to town status. In 1937, Saint Elisabeth's Catholic Church was built and consecrated. In 1938, the Berlin

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

ringroad – now

Bundesautobahn 10 is an orbital motorway around the German capital city of Berlin. Colloquially called ''Berliner Ring'', it is predominantly located in the state of Brandenburg, with a short stretch of in Berlin itself. It should not be confused with the ''Be ...

– was dedicated, and now serves cities and towns around Berlin, including Königs Wusterhausen. By now, the

National Socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

were in power, and in 1944 they built a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

for

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s and

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

at the railway goods station. After the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and until 1990, Königs Wusterhausen was in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. In 1972, Germany's deadliest ever aviation accident occurred when an

Interflug Interflug GmbH (german: Interflug Gesellschaft für internationalen Flugverkehr m.b.H.; ) was the national airline of the German Democratic Republic from 1963 to 1990. Based in East Berlin, it operated scheduled and chartered flights to Europea ...

passenger flight crashed near Königs Wusterhausen, killing 156 people. 1972 also saw the collapse of Königs Wusterhausen's Central tower, which at 243 m tall was the most prominent structure at the radio transmission facility.

Worship

Christianity

In Königs Wusterhausen, there is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

parish as well as congregations of the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

church body A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, wors ...

named

Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (german: Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz, EKBO) is a United Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony ...

. The oldest church in town is the village ''Wehrkirche'' (a church whose architecture contains typically military elements) in Deutsch Wusterhausen, built in the 13th century. In 1998 the Evangelical Königs Wusterhausen deanery (german: Kirchenkreis) merged in the Berlin- Neukölln deanery. The Protestant congregations in Königs Wusterhausen (KW), Deutsch Wusterhausen, Niederlehme, Senzig, Zeesen, and Zernsdorf (all components of KW) as well as that in Schenkendorf (a component of

Mittenwalde Mittenwalde () is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 30 km southeast of Berlin (centre). On May 28, 1562, the town of Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders, a debt which has never been repaid, thou ...

), today make up the ecclesiastical Region 9. The Catholic parish belongs to the Deanship of Köpenick-Treptow of the

Archdiocese of Berlin The Archdiocese of Berlin is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The archepiscopal see is in Berlin, with the archdiocese's territory extending over Northeast Germany. As of 2004, the archd ...

. Both communities have very active youth groups, the Evangelical ''Junge Gemeinde'' ("Young Community") and the ''Katholische Jugend'' ("Catholic Youth"). In January 2013, the Freie Baptistengemeinde Königs Wusterhausen was organized. They are located near the post office and hold weekly services as well as other Bible studies including "Jungschar" and a monthly "Jugendtreff".

Politics

City council

Königs Wusterhausen's town council consists of 36 councillors, with the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

(''Bürgermeister'') as head. According to the results of the latest local election in May 2019, they were apportioned as follows: *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD) – 8 seats * Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – 5 seats * Alternative for Germany (AfD) – 5 seats * The Left (Linke) – 5 seats *Free Voters (citizens' coalition) (FWKW) – 4 seats *Wir für KW (WfKW) – 3 seats * Alliance 90/The Greens – 3 seats * Free Democratic Party (FDP) – 1 *Other – 4 seats

Twin towns – sister cities

Königs Wusterhausen is twinned with: *

Příbram Příbram (; german: Freiberg in Böhmen, ''Przibram'', or ''Pribram'', in 1939–1945 ''Pibrans'') is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 32,000 inhabitants. It is well known for its mining history, and mor ...

, Czech Republic *

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ge ...

, United States *

Hückeswagen Hückeswagen ) is a town in the north of Oberbergischer Kreis, Oberbergischen Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is part of the governmental district Cologne, governmental district of Cologne. Geography Hückeswagen is situated on the ...

, Germany * Steglitz-Zehlendorf (Berlin), Germany

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

*Königs Wusterhausen Hunting Lodge and Garden, known as Prussian King Frederick William favourite place to stay. *''Kreuzkirche'' ("Cross Church"), begun in 1693, new glazing in 1949 with 3 choir windows and 4 ornamental round panes by

Charles Crodel Charles Crodel (September 16, 1894 – November 11, 1973) was a German painter and stained glass artist. Life Crodel was born in Marseille, he studied in 1914 with Richard Riemerschmid, one of the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund, at the M ...

. *''Neue Mühle'' ("New Mill") Canal lock (first documented in 1739), difference in levels: 1.50 m *

Watertower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conjunc ...

(begun 1910, shut down 1965), now a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

with beergarden and exhibition areas *210-metre transmission mast (built 1925)

Museums

*Königs Wusterhausen Transmission and Radio Technology Museum on the Funkerberg Of the once great number of building works on the Funkerberg ("Transmitter Mountain"), only very little is preserved nowadays, as many transmission towers were dismantled for technical reasons after the Central Tower collapsed and fell on 15 November 1972. Today, only a 210-m-high mast and two small freestanding towers are to be found there. Along with the remaining buildings, this forms a technological monument. Until 1999 this mast bore the transmitting antenna that served as the reserve antenna for the

longwave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...

stations at Zehlendorf bei Oranienburg and

Donebach Donebach is a neighborhood of the village of Mudau, Odenwald, Germany and has 369 inhabitants. At Donebach, there is the longwave transmitter of Deutschlandfunk for broadcasting on 153 kHz, whose antenna masts are with a height of 363 metres ...

. In 1994, a 67-m-high

precast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast bea ...

cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...

transmission tower was put up. It is today the only active transmitter on the Funkerberg. The first attempts at transmissions were in 1908. On 22 December 1920, music and speech were transmitted wirelessly from the Funkerberg for the first time on "Welle 2400" – longwave. It went down in history as the German postal system's Christmas concert. Königs Wusterhausen is thus also said to be the cradle of German radio. The artists in that broadcast were, incidentally, postal employees. The initiative was German radio pioneer

Hans Bredow Hans Bredow (26 November 1879 – 9 January 1959) was a German radio broadcasting pioneer and the first chairman of Weimar Germany's National broadcasting service. He is regarded as the "father of German broadcasting". Biography Bredow was born ...

's brainchild (for this and other groundbreaking work, he is considered the "Father of German Radio"). Until 1926, the popular ''Sonntagskonzerte'' ("Sunday Concerts") were broadcast. The station's studio was in the beginning a remodelled bathroom at the first broadcasting house on the Funkerberg.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

(Königs Wusterhausen regional trains (RE2 RB22, 24, 36) and

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

•S46 to Westkreuz• station) *

s/ Freeways: A 10 (Berliner Ring), A 13 *Highways: ''Bundesstraße'' (Federal highway) 179 (B 179) *Air travel:

Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport Berlin Brandenburg Airport ''Willy Brandt'' (german: Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg "Willy Brandt", , ) is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the Germany, German capital Berlin in the state of Brandenburg. Named after the f ...

(BER) *Waterways: Königs Wusterhausen inland port.

Notable people

* Heinrich Mederow (born 1945), rower, bronze medalist at the 1972 Olympics * Marek Kalbus (born 1969), opera and concert singer * Sandra Keller (born 1973), actress * Mike Jesse (born 1973), footballer * Sabine Jünger (born 1973), politician (The Left) *

Judith Arndt Judith Arndt (born 23 July 1976) is a retired German professional sports, professional cycle sport, cyclist, who last rode for the GreenEDGE-AIS cycling team. She won the bronze medal in the Track cycling, 3000 m pursuit event at the 1996 S ...

(born 1976), cyclist

References

External links

City of Königs WusterhausenFriends of the Königs Wusterhausen transmitterCatholic YouthEvangelical Young Community
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Konigs Wusterhausen Localities in Dahme-Spreewald Teltow (region) Holocaust locations in Germany