Bad Belzig (), until 2010 Belzig, is a historic

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

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 square ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

located about southwest of

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. It is the capital of the Potsdam-Mittelmark district.

Geography

Bad Belzig is located within the Fläming hill range and in the centre of the High Fläming Nature Park. The plains north of the town are home to one of the few

great bustard The great bustard (''Otis tarda'') is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus ''Otis''. It breeds in open grasslands and farmland from northern Morocco, South and Central Europe, to temperate Central and East Asia. European ...

populations in Germany. Since 2003, when 14 surrounding villages were incorporated into Bad Belzig, some of them voluntarily, others by Brandenburg

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

(state parliament) legislation, Bad Belzig has an area of 234.83 km². These villages became districts (''Ortsteile'') of Belzig: The forest of Verlorenwasser near Werbig encompassed the geographical centre of

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 ...

History

A Slavic fort of ''Belizi'' was first mentioned in a 997 deed issued by

Emperor Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

in favour of the

Archbishopric of Magdeburg The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. Planned since 955 and established in 968, the R ...

. Whether this denotation refers to Bad Belzig or the neighbouring town of Beelitz has not been conclusively established. Nevertheless, both towns celebrated their 1000 years anniversary in 1997. The estates however had actually already been lost in the Slavic uprising of 983 and were not conquered again until 1153 by

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 ...

from the

House of Ascania 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 ...

. In 1251 the castle ''(Burg Eisenhardt)'' and the adjacent settlement became part of Saxe-Wittenberg under Albert's successor Duke Albert I. However it was claimed by the archbishops of Magdeburg, whose forces devastated Belzig in 1406. The rebuilt castle was again seized by the

Hussite The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Hus ...

general

Prokop the Great Prokop the Great ( cs, Prokop Veliký, la, Procopius Magnus) or Prokop the Bald or the Shaven ( cz, Prokop Holý, link=no, ) (c. 1380 – 30 May 1434) was a Czech Hussite general and a prominent Taborite military leader during the Hussite Wars. ...

when he invaded Saxony in 1429, after which Elector Ernest of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

from the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of Germany, German monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of ...

enlarged it to a fortress. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

it was seized by the troops of the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire was a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries ( sv, Stormaktstiden, "the Era of Great Power"). The beginning of the empire is usually t ...

in 1636, after Elector John George I had allied with

Emperor Ferdinand II Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria. His parents were de ...

in the Peace of Prague. The Romanesque St Mary's Church was built in the late 13th century. According to an inscription in the keystone of the western entrance,

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Luther ...

preached here on January 14, 1530. Eisenhardt Castle. Bad Belzig was granted

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1702. During the

War of the Sixth Coalition In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated ...

on August 27, 1813 troops of the

French Empire French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to: * First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 * Second French Empire, led by Nap ...

and Saxony were attacked by

Prussian 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 ...

and Russian forces near the village of Hagelberg. The encounter ended in a French defeat, while several Saxon units went over to the Prussians. According to the Final Act of the 1815

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

Bad Belzig was ceded to Prussia and became part of the

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg (german: Provinz Brandenburg) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg ...

, after having belonged to the Saxon Electorate for centuries. In 1934 ammunition works were established in Bad Belzig including a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (espec ...

with about 1500 forced laborers. During the years 1936–1945, Burg Eisenhardt was the site of the Reichsschule (leadership school) for the Technischen Nothilfe ('technical emergency relief'). (The Technische Nothilfe was abolished in May, 1945, but the idea was revived by Otto Lummitzsch in the form of the Technisches Hilfswerk in 1950, which exists to this day as one of the pillars of the German civil protection infrastructure.) Between 1940 and 1945 a subcamp of the women's concentration camp Ravensbrück with about 750 inmates was also located nearby. Bad Belzig was also the site of a large

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

transmitter station, erected in 1939. In 1952 the town became the capital of the Belzig district and in 1993 of the newly created district of Potsdam-Mittelmark. In 1995 Bad Belzig was awarded the official title of a climatic health resort. Effective March 2010, the town's name was changed to "Bad Belzig".

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Bad Belzig.pdf, Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population development in Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of

Nazi Germany 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 ...

; Red Background: Time of communist

) File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Bad Belzig.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 2017-2030 (scarlet line); for 2020-2030 (green line)

Politics

Mayors

* 1990–2008: Peter Kiep (SPD) * 2008–2016: Hannelore Klabunde-Quast (independent) * since 1. Dezember 2016: Roland Leisegang (independent) Peter Kiep could work in office only till 2006. He died in 2013. Hannelore Klabunde-Quast became in 2006 the substitute of Peter Kiep. She was elected mayor in 2008. Roland Leisegang (a founding member of the band

Keimzeit Keimzeit is a German musical band formed in 1979 in Lütte (Belzig) near Potsdam, GDR (German Democratic Republic). Originally called ''Jogger'', they changed their name to ''Keimzeit'' in 1982. The originally family-based band, led by Norbert ...

) was elected mayor in 2016 with 65,4 % of the votes.Ergebnis der Bürgermeisterstichwahl am 9. Oktober 2016
/ref> The municipal assembly ''(Stadtverordnetenversammlung)'' has 22 members. The 2014 elections showed the following results: *Social Democrats ( SPD): 6 seats *Left Party ( Die Linke): 3 seats *Christian Democrats ( CDU): 3 seats *"We, the villagers" group: 3 seats * Free Voters: 2 seats * Grüne: 2 seats *Liberals ( FDP): 1 seat * NPD: 1 seat *Belzig Business Association: 1 seat The town's shield depicts the coat of arms of Saxony due to the long-time affiliation with the Saxon Electorate.

International relations

Bad Belzig is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with Ritterhude, a town in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, and is also twinned with

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

, a town in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Bad Belzig exchanges students with Even Yehuda,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Yet, there is not official agreement between the cities.

Places of interest

Main attractions are medieval Eisenhardt castle and the thermal bath SteinTherme. There is also a picturesque historic town centre with the town hall and the market place in the middle. Places of interest in the incorporated villages include Glien Manor (Klein Glien) in Hagelberg and the windmill in Borne. There is also a set of sculpture walks starting from Bad Belzig, heading towards Wiesenburg.

Economy

The district administration is the major employer in Bad Belzig. Bad Belzig is the main town in the rural Higher Fläming area, with schools, shops, supermarkets, a hospital and a cinema all used by the inhabitants of surrounding towns and villages. There is a successful rehabilitation clinic (sanatorium) in Bad Belzig. In 1989, Bad Belzig launched an ambitious programme to become a spa town (achieving recognition in 2009) and promote tourism.

Sons and daughters of the town

* Carl Gottlieb Reißiger (1798-1859), composer and Kapellmeister in Dresden * Joachim Herrmann (1932-2010), prehistorian, born in Lübnitz *

Matthias Rudolph Matthias Rudolph (born 6 September 1982) is a German football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football t ...

(born 1982), football coach and player *

Felix Holzner Felix Holzner (born 4 June 1985 in Belzig, Bezirk Potsdam) is a German former football midfielder who played for FC Carl Zeiss Jena. References External links

* 1985 births Living people People from Bad Belzig People from Bezirk Potsda ...

(born 1985), football player *

Fabian Wiede Fabian Wiede (born 8 February 1994) is a German handball player for Füchse Berlin and the German national team. He was part of the German team that won the 2016 European Men's Handball Championship. He participated at the 2019 World Men's Ha ...

(born 1994), handball player

References

External links

official website

official website of the Tourist Board

Stein Therme - thermal bath

High Fläming Nature Park
{{Authority control Spa towns in Germany Localities in Potsdam-Mittelmark Fläming Heath