Ludwigsfelde () is a town in the north of the district
Teltow-Fläming 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 ...
.
Geography
Location
The town is located south of
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 ...
in the district
Teltow-Fläming on the plateau of
Teltow. In earlier times, it was part of the district
Zossen.
Parts of the town

Since 1997/2003 the following villages are part of the city:
*
Ahrensdorf
*
Genshagen (with
Genshagen Palace)
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Gröben
*
Groß Schulzendorf
*
Jütchendorf
*
Kerzendorf
*
Löwenbruch
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Mietgendorf
*
Schiaß
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Siethen
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Wietstock
Demography
File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Ludwigsfelde.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 Ludwigsfelde.pdf, Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the Census in Germany in 2011 (blue bordered line); Projection by the 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 ...
state for 2005-2030 (yellow line); Projection for 2017-2030 (scarlet line); ; Projection for 2020-2030 (green line)
History

The first settlement in the main town took place at 1750 under
Frederick II of Prussia
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 Prus ...
; several villages already existed in the 13th century (Gröben 1170). Ludwigsfelde has been classified as a town since 1965.
Culture and places of interest
Sport
Ludwigsfelde is one of the sister towns of football club, Hertha BSC Berlin. The Ludwigsfelder Football Club played in the Brandenburgliga in 2017/2018. The Ludwigsfelder Handball Club played in the Oberliga Ostsee-Spree in 2017/18.
There are also German champions in cycle ball and model gliding.
On 7 August 2005, a marathon was run during the
European Speed Skating Championships
The European Speed Skating Championships are a series of long track speed skating events held annually to determine the best speed skaters of Europe.
History
The International Skating Union has organised the European Championships for Men sinc ...
.
Economy and infrastructure
In 1936
Daimler-Benz Motoren GmbH was founded with a new factory at Genshagen / Ludwigsfelde. The factory made
Daimler-Benz DB 600 series aircraft engines until 1945, when the
USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
bombed the plant and then what plant had survived the bombing was removed and taken to the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
as
war reparations
War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. War reparations can take the form of hard currency, precious metals, natural resources, in ...
. In 1952 the factory was refounded as the
VEB Industriewerke Ludwigsfelde
Industriewerke Ludwigsfelde is an automotive factory in Ludwigsfelde in Brandenburg, just south of Berlin in Germany. The factory is part of Daimler AG and since 1991 it has made Mercedes-Benz vans. It is also the producer of the Multicar line of v ...
, which made various products including heavy machinery and
Multicar small trade vehicles. For a brief period the plant made Pirna jet engines for the ill-fated
Dresden 152 airliner. For more than a decade, 1954–65, it made IWL
motor scooters
A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, a transmission that shifts without the operator having to operate a clutch lever, a platform for their feet, and with a method of operation that emph ...
, including the
SR 59 ''Berlin'' (1956–59).
In 1965 the plant was enlarged and converted to build
IFA trucks. When completed, the new production complex was the largest in the DDR. From 1965 the plant built IFA W50 five-tonne trucks, and from 1988 it made the larger L60 six-tonne trucks as well. Production collapsed after the DDR adopted the
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...
in July 1990.
Daimler-Benz
Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...
took a minority share in the plant in 1991 and complete ownership in 1994. In the 1990s the factory made T2 and
Vario vans, and then at the end of the decade DaimlerChrysler modernised the plant to produce the
Mercedes-Benz Vaneo. Since 2006 the plant has made
Mercedes Sprinter vans and major components for
Volkswagen Crafter vans.
A
lithium-ion battery
A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...
factory was announced in 2019, operational by 2021, and eventually delivering batteries equivalent to 10,000 cars per year.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Localities in Teltow-Fläming
Teltow (region)