The Sacrower See () is a German
lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
in the northern part 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 ...
in 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 ...
.
Overview
The Sacrower See, with the
Groß Glienicker See 0.7 km to the north and the
Heiliger See 1.6 km from Potsdam, forms a chain of lakes which flow into the extensive network of
Havel
The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the States of Germany, states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. The long Havel is a right tributary of the Elbe. However, the direct distance from ...
River waterways.
The lake extends in a north-south direction for over 2.8 km. Its widest point is 406 m and its narrowest 190 m. Sacrow, a district of Potsdam, is located on the southeastern shore. The remaining shore is forested and part of the Königswald Nature Preserve.
During the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, the lake was part of the border isolating
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
and kept under close East German surveillance. In 1986 Rainer Liebeke of
Gotha
Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
drowned in Sacrower See when attempting to escape to West Berlin.
See also
*
Weißer See
External links
*
Lakes of Brandenburg
Geography of Potsdam
{{Brandenburg-geo-stub