Buckow ( or ; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the

Märkisch-Oderland Märkisch-Oderland is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the eastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring this district are (from the north clockwise) the district of Barnim, the country of Poland, the district-free city of Frankfurt (Oder), the d ...

district, in

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The water cure resort is the administrative seat of the '' Amt'' (municipal association) Märkische Schweiz and located in the centre of the eponymous hill range, which has been part of the

Märkische Schweiz Nature Park Märkische Schweiz Nature Park is a nature park and reserve in the district of Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany. It covers an area of 204 km2 (79 sq mi). It was established on October 1, 1990, and is located east of Berlin. The ...

protected area since 1990.

Geography

Buckow is located about northwest of

Müncheberg Müncheberg is a small town in Märkisch-Oderland, in eastern Germany approximately halfway between Berlin and the border with Poland, within the historic region of Lubusz Land. Geography Prior to 2003 the area today covered by Müncheberg was or ...

and east of the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

city centre. The town is situated in a glacial

trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...

between the Berlin

Urstromtal An ''urstromtal'' (plural: ''Urstromtäler'') is a type of broad glacial valley, for example, in northern Central Europe, that appeared during the ice ages, or individual glacial periods of an ice age, at the edge of the Scandinavian ice sheet and ...

in the southwest and the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

Valley in the northeast, crossed by the Stobber River with its source in the

Rotes Luch Rotes Luch (literally "Red Glade") is a reclaimed (i.e. drained) fen area, known locally as a ''luch (landform), luch'', and extends to a width of about over a length of approximately from southwest to northeast. It is located in the southwester ...

lowland. The trough comprises several lakes, of which the

Schermützelsee The Schermützelsee is a lake in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located in the town of Buckow in the district Märkisch-Oderland northwest of Müncheberg and east of the Berlin centre. With its surface area of 1.37 km² it is the largest water ...

west of the town centre is the largest.

Overview

The town arose at the site of a former Slavic ( Wendish) settlement which according to archaeological findings possibly was founded in the mid 9th century, its name referring to the Slavic: ''buk'', "

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

". The Märkische Schweiz area was part of

Lubusz Land Lubusz Land (; ) is a historical region and cultural landscape in Poland and Germany on both sides of the Oder river. Originally the settlement area of the Lechites, the swampy area was located east of Margraviate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and ...

held by Prince

Mieszko I of Poland Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...

in the late 10th century, which later formed the northwestern part of the

Duchy of Silesia The Duchy of Silesia (, ) with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval provincial duchy of Poland located in the region of Silesia. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Silesian duchies. In 1327, t ...

. In 1224 the

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Branches of ...

duke

Henry I the Bearded Henry the Bearded (, ; c. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238) was a Polish duke from the Piast dynasty. He was Dukes of Silesia, Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201, Seniorate Province, Duke of Kraków and List of Polish monarchs, High Duke of all Kin ...

granted large estates to the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monks of Lubiąż (''Leubus'') and

Trzebnica Trzebnica (Polish pronunciation: ; , ) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in west-central Poland. It is the seat of Trzebnica County, and of the smaller administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Trzebnica. It lies within the eastern Trzebni ...

(''Trebnitz'') Abbeys and had the lands settled with German-speaking colonists. From about 1249/50 the Ascanian margraves of

took control over Lubusz Land, initially rivalling with the Prince-Archbishops of Magdeburg. ''Buchowe'' was first mentioned in a 1253 deed issued by Archbishop Rudolf von Dingelstädt. It is also mentioned in the 1375 land register of Emperor Charles IV and was already called an ''oppidum'' in a 1405 purchase contract. Buckow was devastated during a

Hussite file:Hussitenkriege.tif, upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century file:The Bohemian Realm during the Hussite Wars.png, upright=1.2, The Lands of the ...

campaign on 17 April 1432. The

House of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern Castle, Hohenzollern, Margraviate of Bran ...

elector Frederick II of Brandenburg vested the farming citizens with

market rights A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in 1465. During early modern times, Buckow evolved as a centre of hop growing and

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

. The

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 ...

were officially confirmed in 1550. In the 17th century the estates were held by the Pfuel noble family and in 1688 were acquired by the Brandenburgian field marshal Heino Heinrich von Flemming, who had the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Buckow Castle erected, which, rebuilt in a 19th-century Neoclassical style according to plans designed by

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

, was heavily damaged in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and demolished in 1948. The extended

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

s have been preserved. Brecht-Weigel-Haus Buckow 01

With the opening of the

Prussian Eastern Railway The Prussian Eastern Railway () was a railway in the Kingdom of Prussia and later Germany until 1918. Its main route, approximately long, connected the capital, Berlin, with the cities of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and Königsberg (now Kalini ...

station at neighbouring Müncheberg in 1865, followed by a direct

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

connection to Buckow in 1897, the picturesque setting of the town made it become a popular destination for daytrippers from Berlin and several well-off families had summer cottages erected. The writer

Egon Kisch Egon Erwin Kisch (29 April 1885 – 31 March 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak writer and journalist, who wrote in German. He styled himself ''Der Rasende Reporter'' (The Racing Reporter) for his countless travels to the far corners ...

spent holidays there, as did the artist

John Heartfield John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. Heartfield a ...

. From 1952

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and

Helene Weigel Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was an Austrian actress and artistic director. She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children. Personal life Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria ...

had their summer residence in Buckow, where Brecht wrote his ''Buckow Elegies'' in response to the

Uprising of 1953 in East Germany The East German uprising of 1953 ( ) was an uprising that occurred over the course of two days in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June ...

. The villa today is a memorial site and a place for readings.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly ''(Stadtverordnetenversammlung)'' as of 2019 local elections: * Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 3 *Bürger für Buckowç 2 *

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD): 2 * The Left (Die Linke): 1 *Bürger.Dialog.Buckow: 1 *''Pro Zukunft'' (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

): 1

Demography

International relations

Buckow is twinned with: *

Brilon Brilon (; ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis. Geography Brilon is on the Brilon Heights, at an altitude of about 450m, and the upper reaches of the river Möhne. The town lies between the Ar ...

, Germany *

Łagów, Świebodzin County Łagów is a village in Świebodzin County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łagów. It lies approximately north-west of Świebodzin, south of Gorzów Wielkopolski, and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Adare Adare (; ) is a village in County Limerick, Ireland, located southwest of the city of Limerick. Adare is designated as a heritage town by the Irish government. The village is in a townland and civil parish of the same name. History The River M ...

(Áth Dara), Ireland

Personalities

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 Literary realism, realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he i ...

(1819–1898), author, wrote in the

Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg ''Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg'' ("Ramblings through Brandenburg", "Rambles in Brandenburg" or "Walks through the Margraviate of Brandenburg, March of Brandenburg") is a five-volume travelogue by the Germany, German writer Theodor Fontan ...

in volume 2 "The Oderland" about Buckow *

(1898–1956), writer, lived in Buckow in 1952-1956 *

, (1900–1971), actress, lived in Buckow in 1952-1971 *

Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (; 1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining an ...

(1929–2009), sociologist and politician, attended a boarding school in Buckow from 1941 to 1944

References

External links

Brecht-Weigel-Haus
{{Authority control Localities in Märkisch-Oderland