Golßen (; dsb, Gólišyn) or Golssen is a

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 ...

in the district of

Dahme-Spreewald Dahme-Spreewald ( dsb, Wokrejs Damna-Błota) is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of Oder-Spree, Spree-Neiße, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Elbe-Elster and Teltow-Fläming, and by the city ...

, in

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 ...

. It is the administrative seat of 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 ...

'' ("collective municipality") Unterspreewald.

Geography

It is situated in the northwest of the

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

region, close to the border with the Brandenburgian

Mittelmark The Mittelmark (German for "Middle March") is a historical region in eastern Germany that was the core territory of the Margrave of Brandenburg between the Oder and Elbe rivers. The name refers to the location of the territory between the Altmark ...

core territory. The municipal area stretches from the eastern (Lower)

Fläming Heath The Fläming Heath is a region and hill chain that reaches over 100 km from the Elbe river to the Dahme River in the German states Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. Its highest elevation is the Hagelberg (201 m). The name Fläming originates fro ...

down to the Glogau-Baruth ''

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 ...

'' (glacial valley) traversed by the Dahme River. It also comprises the villages of Mahlsdorf and Zützen. Golßen station is a stop on the

Berlin–Dresden railway The Berlin–Dresden railway is a double track, electrified main line railway in the German states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony, which was originally built and operated by the ''Berlin-Dresden Railway Company'' (''Berlin-Dresdener Eisenbahn- ...

line. The area around the town is known for the cultivation of Spreewald gherkins.

History

The settlement arose in the course of the German ''

Ostsiedlung (, literally "East-settling") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration-period when ethnic Germans moved into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire (that Germans had alr ...

'' eastward migration during the 11th century, possibly at the site of an earlier Slavic village of fortress. ''Golsyn'' in the

March of Lusatia The March or Margraviate of Lusatia (german: Mark(grafschaft) Lausitz) was as an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast '' Marca Geronis'' ...

was first mentioned in a 1276 deed issued by the Wettin margraves. With the former march, Golßen was purchased by the

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

emperor Charles IV in 1367 and incorporated into the

Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of B ...

. The Bohemian kings temporarily put the estates around Golßen Castle in pawn to several holders, such as Margrave William I of Meissen (in 1395). 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 ...

, the Lusatias again passed to the Wettin electors 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 ...

by the 1635 Peace of Prague. Golßen Castle was built about 1723, it passed to the Counts of

Solms-Baruth Solms-Baruth was a Lower Lusatian state country, from 16th century until 1945. History The House of Solms had its origins at Solms, Hesse, and ruled several of the many minor states of the Holy Roman Empire. These lost their independence in the ...

in the 19th century. Surrounded by extended gardens, parts of the buildings were refurbished in a Neoclassical style by

Eduard Knoblauch (Carl Heinrich) Eduard Knoblauch (born 25 September 1801 in Berlin; died 29 May 1865 in Berlin) was a German architect. Eduard Knoblauch was born in his family's house on Poststraße 23 in the Nikolaiviertel neighborhood in Berlin, Germany. H ...

in 1852. The neighbouring estates of Zützen were held by the Kleist noble family. A Baroque palace in Zützen, erected according to plans designed by

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (Hans) Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (17 February 1699 – 16 September 1753) was a painter and architect in Prussia. Knobelsdorff was born in Kuckädel, now in Krosno Odrzańskie County. A soldier in the service of Prussia, he resigned his ...

, burnt down completely in the late days of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, Golßen was incorporated into the

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 ...

province of

in 1816.

Demography

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Stadtverordnetenversammlung'') as of 2019

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

: * Independent Citizen's List Golßen : 5 (+5) * Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): 5 (-4) *

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany ...

(AFD): 4 (+4) * Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 2 (-2) The mayor in Golßen is Daniela Maurer (SPD).

Sons and daughters of the town

* Johann Eberhard von Droste zu Zützen (1662-1726), Saxon general, commander of the fortress Königstein and landlord * Knut Hickethier (born 1945), media scientist * Alfred Hoffmann (born 1958), Catholic clergyman

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golssen Localities in Dahme-Spreewald