Vetschau/Spreewald ( , ) is a town in the

Oberspreewald-Lausitz Oberspreewald-Lausitz (, ) is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Dahme-Spreewald, Spree-Neiße, the districts Bautzen and Meissen in Saxony, and the district ...

district, 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 ...

, in 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 situated in the

Spreewald The Spree Forest or Spreewald (; , , i.e. 'the Swamps') is a large inland delta of the river Spree, and a historical cultural landscape located in the region of (Lower) Lusatia, in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, about 100 km southeas ...

, west 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 ...

History

Vetschau was first mentioned in 1302 as Veczicz. In the course of time, the name of the town changed from Vetczaw in 1434 via Fetzow in 1450 to Fetczaw in 1480. Along with Lower Lusatia, it passed to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in 1469, then returned to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

in 1490. In 1527 the town was first called Fetzscho, the formal town charter was granted to Vetschau in 1543. The coat of arms for Rath and Gmaind of Marckhts Vetzschew was issued to the town on 17 March 1548 by King Ferdinand I in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

. The document was long lost and was rediscovered only in July 2005 in an attic in Vetschau. In 1635, the town passed from Bohemia to

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, and was part of Poland-Saxony from 1697 to 1763. In 1815, it was annexed by

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

, and from 1871 formed part of the newly formed

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. Until the late 19th century, most of the villages in the vicinity of Vetschau were predominantly Sorbian-speaking. The change of language to German took place here - accelerated by the abolition of Sorbian religious services and the enforcement of German in schools - essentially until the middle of the 20th century. In the years 1929 to 1932, the Spreewald Folk and Traditional Costume Festivals took place here at the beginning of August. They were organized by the then mayor Otto Rohde and the Lower Sorbian scientific society Maśica Serbska in

. Under

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, it was the location of 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 Nazi prison for women in Cottbus. From 1964 to 1996 Vetschau was the site of one of the largest lignite-fired power plants in the region, the Vetschau power plant. The power plant's chimneys were the city's landmarks, but also caused considerable sulfur dioxide pollution. Vetschau belonged to the district of

Calau Calau (, , ) is a small town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It is situated 14 km south of Lübbenau, and 27 km west of Cottbus. Calau is also called the home of the German humour#Commo ...

from 1817 to 1952 (until 1947 in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, 1947-1952 in the state of Brandenburg). 1952-1993 the town was part of the district of Calau (until 1990 in the GDR

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 ...

, 1990-1993 again in the state of Brandenburg). Since the district reform in 1993, Vetschau has been located in the district of Oberspreewald-Lausitz. With effect from 1 April 1997 the name of the city was changed to Vetschau/Spreewald.

Demography

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

Politics

City Council

The Vetschau City Council consists of 18 members and the full-time mayor. The local elections on 26 May 2019 resulted in the following distribution of seats: * CDU: 6 *

AfD Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...

: 3 *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

:3 * Wählergemeinschaft Ortsteile: 2 *

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

: 2 *

Die Linke Die Linke (; ), also known as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The ...

: 2

Mayor

* 1994–2010: Axel Müller (SPD) * since 2010: Bengt Kanzler Kanzler was elected the new mayor of Vetschau on 29 November 2009 with 53.8% of the valid votes. He was confirmed in office for a further eight years in the mayoral election on 8 October 2017 with 51.7% of the valid votes.

Buildings

*At Vetschau, there is the

Fuhrländer Wind Turbine Laasow Fuhrländer Wind Turbine Laasow is a wind turbine, built in 2006 by German wind turbine manufacturer Fuhrländer near the village of Laasow, Brandenburg, Germany. It consists of a lattice tower, which carries a Rotor (turbine), rotor in diamet ...

, the former world's tallest wind turbine (until two slightly taller wind turbines opened in Poland in 2012), and the stork nes
webcam
installed by Naturschutzbund Niederlausitz. *

Wendish-German double church The Wendish-German double church (Lower Sorbian language, Lower Sorbian ''Serbsko-nimska dwójna cerkwja we Wětošowje'') is a so-called double church in Vetschau, Vetschau (Wětošow)/Spreewald, Germany. The Protestant church consists of two nav ...

Sons and daughters of the town

*Richard Hellmann, (1876-1971), founder of Hellmann's Mayonnaise in the US, was born in Vetschau. *

Hans Stiebner Hans Stiebner (19 November 1898 – 27 March 1958) was a German actor. Steibner was born in Vetschau, Germany as Hans Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Paul Stiebner. He died in 1958 in Baden-Baden, West Germany. Selected filmography * '' The Grand Duk ...

(1898-1958), actor and theater director

References

External links

{{Authority control Populated places in Oberspreewald-Lausitz