Eiche is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
with 4480 inhabitants (2008). It was incorporated into the city of Potsdam in 1993.
Geography
Eiche is situated about 4.5 km west of Potsdam city centre on the road to
Golm at the foot of several hills, among them ''Großer Herzberg'' (73 m a.s.l) north of the village, ''Kleiner Herzberg'' (67 m a.s. l.) and ''Kahler Berg'' (66 m a.s.l.) to the east and ''Ehrenpfortenberg'' (55 m a.s.l) to the west. Neighbouring places are Golm in the west, Bornim in the north, Bornstedt in the east, and Wildpark in the south, all of them are districts of Potsdam.
History
Eiche was first mentioned in a document dating from 1193. Until the substantial extensions starting in 1881, it remained a
linear settlement
A linear settlement is a (normally small to medium-sized) settlement or group of buildings that is formed in a long line. Many of these settlements are formed along a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Others form due to physical r ...
. A new church in neo-classical style was built in 1771 on orders from
Frederick the Great
Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...
to plans by the architect
Georg Christian Unger.
Until 1935 the village was part of Osthavelland district. On 1 August 1935 it was incorporated into the city of Potsdam, on 25 July 1952 it was split off again in order to join neighbouring Golm in the joint municipality Eiche-Golm in Potsdam-Land district. On 1 January 1962 this municipality was split in its constituent parts, making Eiche an independent municipality again until it was re-incorporated into Potsdam on 6 December 1993. A new residential quarter was built in the 1990s on the fields of ''Altes Rad'' north of the village.
Police barracks
Barracks built on today's Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße in 1890/1891 housed initially an infantry training battalion. In the era of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
the buildings were used by the Prussian higher police school which educated officer candidates for the
Schutzpolizei
The ''Schutzpolizei'' (), or ''Schupo'' () for short, is a uniform-wearing branch of the ''Landespolizei'', the state (''Land'') level police of the states of Germany. ''Schutzpolizei'' literally means security or protection police, but it is ...
. In 1935 the barracks were transferred to the German air force, and from 1936 on they were rebuilt after a standardised design as a school for
non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...
s. The main buildings are still standing.
In the era of the
GDR the barracks were first used by ''
Kasernierte Volkspolizei
The Kasernierte Volkspolizei () (KVP) was the precursor to the National People's Army (NVA) in East Germany. Their original headquarters was in Adlershof Boroughs and neighborhoods of Berlin, locality in East Berlin, and from 1954 in Strausber ...
'', later by ''
Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft'', in particular the counter-terrorist unit
Diensteinheit IX. Now units and facilities of the police of the state of
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 ...
are using the premises.
Military barracks
From 1935 to 1938 further barracks were built for the German air force, also after a standardised design.
While police officer candidates were initially also taught there, the courses and their participants were transferred to the air force from late 1935. After the death of lieutenant general
Walther Wever in an airplane crash near Dresden on 3 June 1936, the barracks were named after him. The major part of the espionage and counter-espionage department of the
German military intelligence service moved here after bomb damages to its Berlin central in April 1943. From 1956,
Nationale Volksarmee used the premises which extend across ''Ehrenpfortenberg'' hill until today's campus of Potsdam university in Golm where the
MfS college was located from 1951 to 1990. Today, these barracks are named ''Havellandkaserne'' and are used by
Bundeswehr
The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...
.
References
.[{{cite book , title = Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmale in der DDR. Bezirk Potsdam , editor = Institut für Denkmalpflege , publisher = Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellschaft , location = Berlin , year = 1978 , language = de , pages = 268–269]
Geography of Potsdam
Districts of Potsdam