Doberlug-Kirchhain (; ) is a German town in the district of

Elbe-Elster Elbe-Elster is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Teltow-Fläming, Dahme-Spreewald, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Meißen, Nordsachsen and Wittenberg. The district has a partnership with the ...

Lower Lusatia Lower Lusatia (; ; ; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the Germany, German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the south, Lower Lusa ...

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 ...

History

937. The town of Kirchhain was built by Margrave

Gero Gero I ( 900 – 20 May 965), sometimes called the Great (),Thompson, 486. Also se was a nobleman from East Francia who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he ...

. A document written in 1005 mentions the town Doberlug (''Dobraluh'') for the first time. In 1165 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 ...

Dobrilugk Abbey was founded by Margrave Dietrich of Landsberg. 1235. Kirchhain received market-rights. In 1431 the

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 ...

s destroyed the town of Doberlug and the abbey was devastated. In 1637 and 1643 the

Swedes Swedes (), or Swedish people, are an ethnic group native to Sweden, who share a common ancestry, Culture of Sweden, culture, History of Sweden, history, and Swedish language, language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, ...

destroyed Kirchhain. From 1815 to 1947, Doberlug and Kirchhain were part of the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg () was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1947. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg (excluding Altmark) and ...

. 1848. The jurisdictions of Doberlug and Kirchhain were unified, but the actual merger of the two towns did not take place until over one hundred years later, in 1950. During

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 ...

, Kirchhain was taken by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

on 23 April 1945. From 1952 to 1990, Doberlug-Kirchhain was part of the

Bezirk Cottbus Cottbus was a Administrative divisions of the German Democratic Republic, district () of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The administrative seat and main town was Cottbus. History The district was established, along with the othe ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. On August 28, 1992, the ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

Doberlug-Kirchhain'' was created to streamline the administration of the town together with the surrounding 8 small municipalities. Nexdorf and Frankena later joined as well. The municipalities incorporated into the town were Frankena (2000), Dübrichen, Hennersdorf, Nexdorf, Prießen and Werenzhain (2001), and Buchhain (2002). The remaining three municipalities Arenzhain, Trebbus and Lugau were incorporated on October 26, 2003, thus ending the history of the ''Amt''.

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Doberlug-Kirchhain.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 Doberlug-Kirchhain.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 (, ) 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, was the 2011 Europea ...

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

Climate

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the town shows the town hall with three towers topped with yellow flags. Below is a green ring. On top are two clouds and rays of the sun. The shield is blue, and shaped like a leather sheet, symbolizing the history of the city as a tannery center. The coat of arms was created in 1950 by combining the symbols of the coats of arms of Doberlug and Kirchhain: the green ring and the sun are taken from the arms of Doberlug, while the town hall is from those of Kirchhain.

Twin towns

Doberlug-Kirchhain is twinned with

Hemer Hemer () is a town in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Hemer is located at the north end of the Sauerland near the Ruhr (river), Ruhr river. The highest elevation, at , is in the ''Balver Wald'' in t ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

and

Kirchhain Kirchhain () is a town in Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Kirchhain is located in the heart of the state of Hesse in Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Geographically, it is surrounded by the Amöneburg Basin on the southeast ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

Notable natives and residents

Kirchhain

* Daniel Schade (1601–1662), Musician * Karl Gustav von Berneck (1803–1871), writer * Guido Jendritzko (born 1925), sculptor and painter * Catrin Große (born 1964 in Finsterwalde), painter, graphic designer and sculptor

Doberlug

Heinrich Clauren Carl Gottlieb Samuel Heun (20 March 1771 – 2 August 1854), better known by his pen name Heinrich Clauren, was a German author. Biography Born on 20 March 1771 in Doberlug, Lower Lusatia. Heun went into the Prussian civil service, and wrote ...

(1771–1854), also ''Carl Gottlieb Samuel Heun'', writer * Otto Fridolin Fritzsche (1812–1896),

theologist Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ana ...

Hermann Wilhelm Vogel Hermann Wilhelm Vogel (26 March 1834 – 17 December 1898) was a German photochemist and photographer who discovered dye sensitization, which is of great importance to photography. Academic career After finishing school in Frankfurt (Oder), ...

(1834–1898), chemist * Eduard Köllner, (1839–1891), composer of ''Festhymne zur 100 jährigen Jubelfeier der Unabhängigkeitserklärung der Vereinigten Staaten Nordamerikas'' (Hymn for the Independence Day 1876)

Photogallery

Image:Doberlug-Kirchhain in EE.png, The town in the Kreis

Image:Doberlug-Kirchhain May2015 img7 Klosterkirche.jpg, Church Gate of Dobrilugk Abbey Image:Doberlug-Kirchhain May2015 img4 Schloss Doberlug.jpg, Castle of Doberlug in May 2015

References

External links

{{Authority control Localities in Elbe-Elster