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37-548: In 1897 Teltow , a rural district of the Province of Brandenburg , mandated the construction of a memorial tower to mark the 100th birthday of the German Emperor Wilhelm I (d. 1888). On June 9, 1899 the landmark was opened to the public as "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Turm" (English: Emperor William Tower ), though the inscription on the eastern facade reads "Koenig Wilhelm I zum Gedaechtniss" (to King William I, in memory), as he

74-612: A crowd of about 350 people below. Elizabeth, who was an accomplished writer and translator, died the following day. In 1948, following World War II , the tower was renamed Grunewaldturm, after the surrounding forest, near the Havel River. A comprehensive renovation of the tower then took place in 1953. It was later closed in October 2007 due to significant structural damage to the staircase. The necessary renovation cost 1.5 million euros and lasted until Easter 2011, reopening on April 22. Since

111-572: A platform offering a panoramic view over the Havelland region and the Grunewald forest. The building has a restaurant and a beer garden . 52°28′42″N 13°11′48″E  /  52.47833°N 13.19667°E  / 52.47833; 13.19667 This article about a Berlin building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg ( German : Provinz Brandenburg )

148-738: A process that intensified with the Protestant Reformation and the inheritance of the Polish Duchy of Prussia in 1618. The margraviate formed the core of the Brandenburg-Prussian state and the "Great Elector" Frederick William I made various accessions to the territory, the Treaty of Königsberg of 1656 marking a significant turn in its evolution. By the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau , Frederick William reached full sovereignty in his Prussian territories, which enabled his son Frederick I to assume

185-534: A provincial executive body (government), the provincial committee ( Provinzialausschuss ), and a head of province, the Landesdirektor ("Land Director"). From 1822 the province of Brandenburg was divided into two Regierungsbezirke (governorates): Frankfurt and Potsdam  [ de ] . Between 1816 and 1822 there was a third governorate – the Governorate of Berlin  [ de ] – comprising

222-712: A re-establishment of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg , excluding the Eastern parts behind the Oder–Neisse line to Poland . With the abolition of Prussia in February 1947, it was named State of March Brandenburg ([Land Mark Brandenburg] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |link= ( help ) ) but in June 1947 the SMAD forced to change the name to State of Brandenburg . In August 1945,

259-620: A transfer of territory was ruled out between Allied-occupied Berlin . Compared to the administrative divisions of Nazi Germany , it comprised the Western part of the Gau March Brandenburg and small parts of Berlin . Due to the post-war situation in Germany, the SMAD appointed state administrations in all subdivisions of their occupation zone in July 1945. Karl Steinhoff became the president of

296-1128: The Machtergreifung on 30 January 1933, the Nazi Gauleiter Wilhelm Kube held the office of the Oberpräsident , succeeded by Emil Stürtz in 1936. Due to its location in the vicinity of the German capital, Brandenburg was a centre of the Nazi terror regime, with concentration camps like Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück and Nazi residences like Karinhall . Under the Nazi government , repressions of Poles intensified. From early 1939, Germany resumed expulsions of Poles , increased censorship of Polish newspapers, conducted invigilation, arrests and assassinations of Polish leaders, activists, teachers and entrepreneurs, closed various Polish organizations, enterprises and libraries and seized their files and funds. Some Polish activists fled German arrest or conscription to

333-625: The Elbe river in the west to beyond the Oder in the east, where the Neumark region bordered on the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen ( Province of Posen from 1848). Other neighbouring provinces were Pomerania in the northeast, Silesia in the southeast, and Prussian Saxony in the southwest. Brandenburg also shared a common border with the grand duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in

370-517: The Greater Berlin Act expanded the borders of Berlin, incorporating numerous surrounding districts and towns from Brandenburg to form Greater Berlin ( Groß-Berlin ) with a population of about 2,000,000, including the former town of Charlottenburg, the seat of Brandenburg's provincial government. The Great Depression helped the Nazi Party to establish itself as an important political power. After

407-593: The State of Brandenburg in East Germany , which was later dissolved in 1952. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, Brandenburg was re-established as a federal state of Germany , becoming one of the new states . Brandenburg's provincial capital alternated between Potsdam , Berlin , and Charlottenburg during its existence. The province comprised large parts of the North German Plain , stretching from

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444-651: The 1807 Prussian reforms , was still characterised by large–scale land holding of the Junker nobility, similar to the eastern Prussian provinces of Silesia and Pomerania. The conditions in the countryside remained largely untouched, even during the Revolutions of 1848 that led to violent fights in the streets of Berlin. The large estates had to deal with low soil quality and—except for brown coal occurrences in Lower Lusatia—the lack of natural resources. The provincial life

481-747: The 1990s, the tower has also doubled as a cell tower . The tower, built in Brick Gothic Revival style and designed by Franz Schwechten , stands 55 m (180 ft) high and is located on the 79 m (259 ft) high Karlsberg hill of the Teltow plateau on the eastern shore of the Havel . The building contains a domed memorial hall with a marble statue of Wilhelm I by sculptor Ludwig Manzel , and four iron reliefs depicting Albrecht von Roon , Helmuth von Moltke , Otto von Bismarck and Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia . The neo-Byzantine ceiling mosaics in

518-819: The German army to Poland. During the German invasion of Poland , which started World War II in September 1939, persecution further intensified with mass arrests of Polish leaders, activists, editors, entrepreneurs, etc., who were deported to concentration camps , expulsions and closure of remaining Polish organizations, schools and enterprises. During the war, Germany operated several prisoner-of-war camps , including Stalag III-A , Stalag III-B, Stalag III-C , Stalag III-D , Oflag II-A , Oflag III-A, Oflag III-B, Oflag III-C , Oflag 8 and Oflag 80 for Polish , Belgian, British, Dutch, French , Serbian, Italian , American, Czechoslovak, Soviet , Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian and other Allied POWs with numerous forced labour subcamps in

555-706: The Oder River. However, the Altmark on the western bank of the Elbe was incorporated into the Prussian Province of Saxony. The Province of Brandenburg also encompassed the territory of Lower Lusatia (where Cottbus had been a Brandenburgian exclave since the 15th century) as well as the area around Belzig and Jüterbog , all annexed from the Kingdom of Saxony for her alliance with Napoleon . The Province headed by an Oberpräsident

592-638: The Province, but in the course of the Industrial Revolution from the 1830s onwards quickly developed to a metropolis , from 1871 as capital of the German Empire , and on 1 April 1881 was made an autonomous city district ( Stadtkreis Berlin ) without, however, completely leaving the province. On 1 October 1920, Berlin was finally separated from the Province of Brandenburg. In contrast, the rural outer regions, though serfdom had been officially abolished by

629-659: The Slavic tribes up to the Oder river and his son Otto I established the marca Geronis on their territory, with the government first conferred to the Saxon count Gero . The Northern March was split off in 965, however, large parts were again lost in the Great Slav Rising of 983, and the margravial title did not become hereditary until the time of Albert the Bear , another Saxon count from

666-678: The crown of a " King in Prussia " in 1701. The margraviate remained a constituent part of Prussia, until after the Napoleonic Wars and the 1815 Congress of Vienna the kingdom's administration was divided into ten provinces. Most of the Margraviate's territory was incorporated into the new Province of Brandenburg, most notably the Mittelmark between the rivers Elbe and Oder and the Neumark region east of

703-690: The east, the historic capital Brandenburg an der Havel as well as Cottbus , Forst and Guben ( Gubin ) in Lower Lusatia . The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Germanic Suebi . During the Migration Period , they were succeeded by the Polabian Slavs , whose fortress at Brandenburg an der Havel was conquered by the German king Henry the Fowler in 928/29. Henry subdued

740-422: The hall are early works by the church painter and mosaic artist August Oetken, executed by the company Puhl & Wagner . A decorative band, wraps around the tower. Inscriptions are on the east and west sides, with two coats of arms located above them. The coat of arms on the side facing the river shows the red Brandenburg eagle, while the one facing the forest has the black Prussian eagle . 204 steps lead to

777-581: The noble House of Ascania , who established the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157. His son Margrave Otto I already achieved the dignity of an Arch-Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Empire in 1177. Emperor Charles IV by the Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the electoral dignity of the Brandenburg margraves and in 1373 assigned the electorate to his son Wenceslaus in 1373. The Elector of Brandenburg held

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814-510: The northwest as well as with Anhalt in the west. Beside the Elbe and Oder river areas, the province covered large parts of the Spree and Havel basin. The largest cities were Berlin , located in the centre together with the growing suburbs of Spandau , Charlottenburg , Schöneberg and Neukölln . Larger towns were the royal residence Potsdam and the regional capital Frankfurt (Oder) , furthermore Landsberg (present-day Gorzów Wielkopolski) in

851-529: The other states of Eastern Germany, in 1952 was dissolved and divided into administrative districts. Brandenburg's territory roughly corresponded with the districts of Potsdam, Frankfurt/Oder and Cottbus. In 1990, following German reunification , Brandenburg was re-established as a state of the Federal Republic of Germany . The Prussian central government appointed for every province an Oberpräsident ("Upper President") carrying out central prerogatives on

888-565: The province. In early 1945, the death marches of prisoners of various nationalities from various dissolved camps passed through the region. In the late days of World War II it was the site of the bloody encounters of the Seelow Heights , at Halbe and finally the Battle of Berlin , won by the Soviet and Polish armies. In 1945, after the war, the Neumark territory east of the Oder–Neisse line

925-415: The provincial level and supervising the implementation of central policy on the lower levels of administration. Since 1875, with the strengthening of self-rule within the provinces, the urban and rural districts ( Kreise ) elected representatives for the provincial Landtage diets. These parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provinces. The provincial diet of Brandenburg elected

962-618: The seventh rank among the electors of the Empire and had five votes in the Council of Princes. In 1415 Brandenburg was acquired by Burgrave Frederick of Nuremberg , the first member of the Swabian House of Hohenzollern to rule the margraviate. Over the centuries, the Hohenzollerns gradually rose to one of the most important dynasties of the Empire, rivalling with the ruling House of Habsburg ,

999-701: The state administration in Brandenburg and later was elected to the Minister-President. The first election for the Landtag of Brandenburg was held on 20 October 1946, on the same day the elections for the Landtage of the other divisions in the SBZ had been ruled out. The Soviet-backed SED (which became the ruling party of the GDR from 1949 onwards) received 43.5% of the votes, CDU 30.3%, LDPD 20.5% and VdgB 5.7%. In February 1947,

1036-629: The state-constitution was adopted. However, all resolutions by the parliament were made subject to approval of the SMAD. After the foundation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in October 1949, a second election for the Landtag was held in October 1950 . The only party was the National Front , an alliance of political parties and mass organisations controlled by the SED, which received 99.9% of

1073-641: The urban district of Berlin, the city of Charlottenburg and the municipalities of Gesundbrunnen , Lichtenberg , and Stralau . In 1822 the Berlin region merged into the Potsdam region. Established in 1816 this governorate, an enclave in the Potsdam region, merged into the latter in 1822. Urban districts ( Stadtkreise ) Rural districts ( Landkreise ) Urban districts ( Stadtkreise ) Rural districts ( Landkreise ) Brandenburg (1945-1952) The State of Brandenburg (German: Land Brandenburg )

1110-514: The votes. Following this election, it became the first and only time that five members of the Landtag were sent to the Chamber of States of the GDR. As the ruling communists aimed to build a quasi- unitary state , the state was dissolved by a change of the Constitution of East Germany in July 1952. All of the five Länder were replaced by 14 newly formed Bezirke . In case of Brandenburg, the territory

1147-514: Was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1947. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia 's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg (excluding Altmark ) and the Lower Lusatia region, and became part of the German Empire in 1871. From 1918, Brandenburg was a province of the Free State of Prussia until Prussia was dissolved in 1945 after World War II , and replaced with reduced territory as

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1184-547: Was a subdivision of the Soviet occupation zone (until 1949) and state of East Germany (from 1949) which corresponds widely to the present-day German state Brandenburg . The state was originally formed as administrative division Province of March Brandenburg ([Provinz Mark Brandenburg] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |link= ( help ) ) by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) in July 1945,

1221-496: Was also king of Prussia . A second inscription, on the western facade, facing the Havel river, reads: "Der Kreis Teltow baute mich 1897" (The district of Teltow built me in 1897). Elizabeth of Wied , queen consort of Romania, visited the top of the tower in March 1916, during World War I. She was elderly and it took her over two and a half hours to make it to the top, from which she waved at

1258-571: Was ceded to the Republic of Poland to form the Zielona Gora Voivodeship (initially part of Poznan Voivodeship between 1945 and 1950, became Lubusz Voivodeship in 1998 after merging with Gorzów Voivodeship ). The remaining territory became part of the Soviet occupation zone and was transformed into the state of Brandenburg , with Potsdam becoming state capital. In 1949, the state of Brandenburg became part of East Germany and, along with

1295-534: Was perpetuated in the novels by Theodor Fontane and especially in his 1862–89 descriptive work Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg . After World War I and the resolutions of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles , the Province of Brandenburg shifted to the eastern edge of the German Weimar Republic , sharing a 35 km (22 mi) long common border with the Second Polish Republic . In 1920,

1332-476: Was subdivided into two governorates ( Regierungsbezirke ) named after their respective capitals, Potsdam in the northwest (Mittelmark, Prignitz and Uckermark ) and Frankfurt (Oder) in the southeast (Neumark and Lower Lusatia). The provincial government was at first situated at the Potsdam royal residence. In 1827, it moved to Berlin, returned to Potsdam in 1843 and in 1918 finally settled in Charlottenburg . The Prussian capital Berlin originally formed part of

1369-462: Was transferred to the Bezirke Cottbus , Frankfurt , Neubrandenburg , Potsdam and Schwerin . The abolishment of the Chamber of States in 1958 and two ratifications of the constitution in 1968 and 1974 finally eliminate all kinds of federalism in the GDR until the peaceful revolution in 1989. After the first free elections in the GDR, the five Länder were re-established with some smaller geographical adjustments in August 1990 to accede to

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