Neuhardenberg is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district

Märkisch-Oderland Märkisch-Oderland is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the eastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring this district are (from the north clockwise) the district of Barnim, the country of Poland, the district-free city of Frankfurt (Oder), the d ...

, 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 ...

, in north-eastern

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 ...

. It is the site of Neuhardenberg Palace, residence 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 ...

statesman Prince

Karl August von Hardenberg Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg (31 May 1750, in Essenrode- Lehre – 26 November 1822, in Genoa) was a Prussian statesman and Chief Minister of Prussia. While during his late career he acquiesced to reactionary policies, earlier in his care ...

(1750–1822). The municipal area comprises the villages of Altfriedland, Quappendorf and Wulkow. Neuhardenberg is part of the '' Amt'' ("collective municipality") Seelow-Land.

Names of the place

The oldest record mentioning the place, then named ''Quilicz'', dates back to 1348. Later the spelling was changed into ''Quilitz''. When in 1814 Karl August von Hardenberg received the manor, he renamed the place right away into ''Neu-Hardenberg''. On

Labour Day Labour Day is an annual day of celebration of the labour movement and its labor rights, achievements. It has its origins in the trade union, labour union movement, specifically the Eight-hour day movement, eight-hour day movement, which advoca ...

, 1 May 1949, the precursors of

German Democratic Republic 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 ...

renamed it ''Marxwalde'' after

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

. This was reversed on January 1, 1991. Since then the place has borne the old name Neuhardenberg (without the hyphen).

History

The construction of Neuhardenberg Manor, with interior designs by

Carl Gotthard Langhans Carl Gotthard Langhans (15 December 1732 – 1 October 1808) was a Prussian master builder and royal architect. His churches, palaces, grand houses, interiors, city gates and theatres in Silesia (now Poland), Berlin, Potsdam and elsewhere belo ...

, dates from the late 18th century. In 1763 the Prussian general Joachim Bernhard von Prittwitz had received Quilitz, a former property of the Pfuel noble family. The historic village was devastated by a blaze in 1801 and reconstructed as a Neoclassical model settlement according to plans by

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

. In 1814 King

Frederick William III Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved. ...

vested Hardenberg with the locality together with the princely title as a gratification for his merits as Prussian state chancellor. From 1820 on Schinkel also rebuilt the mansion, while the gardens were redesigned by

Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The fema ...

and Peter-Joseph Lenné. During the Third Reich, the Ministry of Aviation (RLM) used the estate of Count (''Graf'') Hardenberg to establish an auxiliary airfield known as ''E-hafen''. This was a secret test site for rocket motors and rocket boosters, developed by

Hellmuth Walter Hellmuth Walter (26 August 1900 – 16 December 1980) was a German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines. His most noteworthy contributions were rocket motors for the Messerschmitt Me 163 and Bachem Ba 349 interce ...

and

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

. Later, Count von Hardenberg held clandestine meetings at the mansion in preparation for the

20 July plot The 20 July plot, sometimes referred to as Operation Valkyrie, was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany, and overthrow the Nazi regime on 20 July 1944. The plotters were part of the German r ...

to kill Hitler. After its failure, he was arrested and his properties were seized by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

authorities. 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 ...

, there were two

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

subcamps of the

Stalag III-C Stalag III-C was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp for Allied soldiers. It was located on a plain near the village of Alt Drewitz bei Küstrin then located in the Neumark of the province of Brandenburg (now Drzewice, Kostrzyn nad Od ...

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

in the settlement. In 1945 Hardenberg again had to face the condemnation of his estates by the Soviet Military Administration. The mansion was turned into a school building. From 1957 on the Marxwalde airfield, built in the 1930s, was extended as the base of an East German Air Force wing. After

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal govern ...

the manor was restored to the Hardenberg family and acquired by the '' Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband'' saving banks association in 1996. After renovation it was reopened in 2002. It is today used as a conference building but also for cultural events.

Demography

Twin towns

Myślibórz Myślibórz (; ) is a town in northwestern Poland, in West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is the capital of the Myślibórz County, with a population of 11,867. It is home to the first monastery of the Congregation of Sisters of Merciful Jesus and a ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

* Hamminkeln,

References

External links

Schloss Neuhardenberg Foundation
{{Authority control Localities in Märkisch-Oderland