Finsterwalde (, , ) is a town in the

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 ...

district (German: Landkreis), in

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 ...

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 ...

Overview

It is situated on the Schackebach, a tributary of the Kleine Elster, 28 m. W.S.W of

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

by rail. Pop. (2005) 18,840. The town has a Gothic church (1581), a castle, schools, cloth and cigar factories, iron-foundries, flour and saw mills and factories for machine building. Popular are the "four singers from Finsterwalde" and their "singer-song".

History

Finsterwalde was first mentioned in 1288. Up until the beginning of 17th century, a large part of the city's population was still speaking

Lower Sorbian Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

. In 1635, Finsterwalde came into the possession of the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

and from 1815 it became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. From 1815 to 1947, Finsterwalde was part of the

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

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 ...

. From 1952 to 1990, it 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 ...

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Finsterwalde.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 Finsterwalde.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 2020-2030 (green line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)

Known persons

The following well known persons are from Finsterwalde: * Hansgeorg Bätcher (1914–2003), Oberstleutnant in the Luftwaffe *

Inge Deutschkron Inge Deutschkron (; 23 August 1922 – 9 March 2022) was a German and Israeli journalist and author. She experienced the Nazi regime as a girl and young woman, living in Berlin first working in a factory, then hiding with her mother. After Worl ...

, (1922–2022), German-Israeli journalist and author * Thomas Eisfeld, (born 1993), football player for

Arsenal FC The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

* Catrin G Grosse (born 1964), artist and painter * Kurt Haehling (1893–1983), Generalmajor in the Wehrmacht * Detlef Irrgang, (born 1966), football player *

Sonja Kesselschläger Sonja Kesselschläger (born 20 January 1978, in Finsterwalde) is a German heptathlete. International competitions Circuit performances *Hypo-Meeting **2000 Hypo-Meeting, 2000 (14th), 2001 Hypo-Meeting, 2001 (9th), 2002 Hypo-Meeting, 2002 (4th) ...

Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

athlete *

Hermann Kotzschmar Johann Carl Hermann Kotzschmar (July 4, 1829April 15, 1908) was a German-American musician, conductor, and composer. Kotzschmar was born in 1829 in Finsterwalde, Kingdom of Prussia. His father, Johann Gottfried Kotzschmar, was the town ''Stadtmus ...

, (1829–1908), German-American musician, conductor and composer * Peggy Kuznik, Football player *

Otto Ostrowski Otto Ostrowski (28 January 1883 in Spremberg – 16 June 1963 in Knokke, Belgium) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and Mayor of Berlin in 1946–1947. Ostrowski graduated in Romance studies and after W ...

, (1883–1963), Mayor of Finsterwalde in the 1920s * Stephanie Pohl, (born 1978), beach volleyball player *

Hans-Jürgen Riediger Hans Jürgen Riediger (born 20 December 1955) is a German former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker for BFC Dynamo, scoring 105 goals in 196 DDR-Oberliga matches. At internation ...

(born 1955), football player

Buildings and Monuments

Finsterwalde Solar Park The Finsterwalde Solar Park was, in November 2010, the List of photovoltaic power stations, world's largest Photovoltaic power station, photovoltaic plant with 80.7 Watt-peak, MWp. The project is located in Finsterwalde, Germany and is equipped ...

* Janusz-Korczak-Gymnasium, formerly ''Knabenschule'' by

Max Taut Max Taut (15 May 1884 – 26 February 1967) was a German architect. Biography Max Taut was born in Königsberg, the younger brother of Bruno Taut. He, his brother and Franz Hoffman formed Taut & Hoffman, an architecture firm in Berlin, In th ...

(1913) * In Finsterwalde is located a relief dedicated to Lenin in the park "Bürgerheide"https://leninisstillaround.com/2015/07/20/in-front-of-the-playground/ checked 26.1.2020

Overview

History

Demography

Known persons

Buildings and Monuments

Climate

Notes

References

External links