Königs Wusterhausen
Encyclopedia
Königs Wusterhausen is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald
district of the state
of Brandenburg
in Germany
.
. Much further away to the west lies the state capital Potsdam
.
The abbreviation "KW" ia also a reminder of the Königs Wusterhausen radio transmitter as "KW" is also the abbreviation for "Kilowatt" and "Kurzwelle" ( German: "Shortwave")
have belonged to Königs Wusterhausen, the town's land area has grown sixfold, and its population has doubled.
got their first known documentary mention. By 1400, the two were both a fiefdom
held by the noble family of Schlieben. In 1500 the estate of Wendisch Wusterhausen was verified for the first time by the Schenken (a noble title) of Landberg zu Teupitz.
On 14 October 1669 Privy Councillor Friedrich von Jena acquired the castle and the village of Wendisch Wusterhausen. In early July 1683, Kurprinz Friedrich
, later (1688) Elector Friedrich III, and later still (1701) King Frederick I of Prussia
, acquired the castle and the village. In 1698, Kurprinz Friedrich Wilhelm was given the castle along with the attached estate as a gift by his father. In 1707, the Crown Prince
and later King Frederick William I of Prussia
founded his Company, the "Potsdam Giants
". Between 1713 and 1718, the castle was remodelled as a hunting lodge. In 1718, the town, hitherto known as Wusterhausen, was given its current name, Königs Wusterhausen ("Königs" = "king's" in German
).
In 1862, novelist and poet
Theodor Fontane
visited Königs Wusterhausen for his Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg.
Since 1901, Königs Wusterhausen has been home to the Brandenburg School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Brandenburgische Schule für Blinde und Sehbehinderte), endowed by the Hamburg
merchant Hermann Schmidt.
In 1920 came the launch of Germany's first radio transmitter, the Transmitter Königs Wusterhausen
, and in 1935, Königs Wusterhausen was raised to town status. In 1937, Saint Elisabeth's Catholic Church was built and consecrated.
In 1938, the Berlin Autobahn ringroad
– now Bundesautobahn 10
– was dedicated, and now serves cities and towns around Berlin, including Königs Wusterhausen. By now, the National Socialists
were in power, and in 1944 they built a concentration camp for Jews and Poles
at the railway goods station.
After the Second World War and until 1990, Königs Wusterhausen was in East Germany.
In 1972, the Central tower
, the most prominent structure at the radio transmission facility at 243 m tall, collapsed. That same year, an Ilyushin Il-62
crashed in Königs Wusterhausen, killing 156 people.
parish as well as congregations of the Protestant church body
named Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
. The oldest church in town is the village Wehrkirche (a church whose architecture contains typically military elements) in Deutsch Wusterhausen, built in the 13th century. In 1998 the Evangelical Königs Wusterhausen deanery
merged in the Berlin-Neukölln
deanery. The Protestant congregations in Königs Wusterhausen (KW), Deutsch Wusterhausen, Niederlehme, Senzig, Zeesen, and Zernsdorf
(all components of KW) as well as that in Schenkendorf (a component of Mittenwalde
), today make up the ecclesiastical Region 9.
The Catholic parish belongs to the Deanship of Köpenick-Treptow
of the Archdiocese of Berlin.
Both communities have very active youth groups, the Evangelical Junge Gemeinde ("Young Community") and the Katholische Jugend ("Catholic Youth").
(Bürgermeister) as head.
(as of municipal elections on 26 October 2003)
(Berlin) Příbram
, Czech Republic
Germantown, Tennessee
, United States
Of the once great number of building works on the Funkerberg ("Transmitter Mountain"), only very little is preserved nowadays, as many transmission towers were dismantled for technical reasons after the Central Tower collapsed and fell on 15 November 1972. Today, only a 210-m-high mast and two small freestanding towers are to be found there. Along with the remaining buildings, this forms a technological monument.
Until 1999 this mast bore the transmitting antenna that served as the reserve antenna for the longwave
stations at Zehlendorf bei Oranienburg and Donebach
.
In 1994, a 67-m-high precast concrete
cellular
transmission tower was put up. It is today the only active transmitter on the Funkerberg.
The first attempts at transmissions were in 1908. On 22 December 1920, music and speech were transmitted wirelessly from the Funkerberg for the first time on "Welle 2400" – longwave. It went down in history as the German postal system's Christmas concert. Königs Wusterhausen is thus also said to be the cradle of German radio. The artists in that broadcast were, incidentally, postal employees. The initiative was German radio pioneer Hans Bredow's brainchild (for this and other groundbreaking work, he is considered the "Father of German Radio").
Until 1926, the popular Sonntagskonzerte ("Sunday Concerts") were broadcast. The station's studio was in the beginning a remodelled bathroom at the first broadcasting house on the Funkerberg.
Dahme-Spreewald
Dahme-Spreewald is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Oder-Spree, Spree-Neiße, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Elbe-Elster and Teltow-Fläming, and by the city of Berlin.- History :...
district of the state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Geographical location
Königs Wusterhausen – or "KW" (ˈkaː ˈveː) as it is often called locally – lies on the Notte Canal and the river Dahme southeast of BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Much further away to the west lies the state capital Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
.
The abbreviation "KW" ia also a reminder of the Königs Wusterhausen radio transmitter as "KW" is also the abbreviation for "Kilowatt" and "Kurzwelle" ( German: "Shortwave")
Parts of town
Königs Wusterhausen is the biggest town in the Dahme-Spreewald district. The municipal reforms in 2003 brought about seven amalgamations, since which time the communities of Zeesen, Kablow, Diepensee, Niederlehme, Senzig, Wernsdorf and ZernsdorfZernsdorf
Zernsdorf is a village in Dahme-Spreewald, Brandenburg, Germany. Since 2003 it has been part of the city of Königs Wusterhausen. The population is approximately 2,900.-Geography:...
have belonged to Königs Wusterhausen, the town's land area has grown sixfold, and its population has doubled.
History
In 1320, in connection with an investiture on 19 September, the place ("hus to wosterhusen") and the castleCastle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
got their first known documentary mention. By 1400, the two were both a fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
held by the noble family of Schlieben. In 1500 the estate of Wendisch Wusterhausen was verified for the first time by the Schenken (a noble title) of Landberg zu Teupitz.
On 14 October 1669 Privy Councillor Friedrich von Jena acquired the castle and the village of Wendisch Wusterhausen. In early July 1683, Kurprinz Friedrich
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
, later (1688) Elector Friedrich III, and later still (1701) King Frederick I of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, acquired the castle and the village. In 1698, Kurprinz Friedrich Wilhelm was given the castle along with the attached estate as a gift by his father. In 1707, the Crown Prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
and later King Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
founded his Company, the "Potsdam Giants
Potsdam Giants
The Potsdam Giants was the Prussian infantry regiment No 6, composed of taller-than-average soldiers. The regiment was founded in 1675 and dissolved in 1806 after the Prussian defeat against Napoleon...
". Between 1713 and 1718, the castle was remodelled as a hunting lodge. In 1718, the town, hitherto known as Wusterhausen, was given its current name, Königs Wusterhausen ("Königs" = "king's" in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
).
In 1862, novelist and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.-Youth:Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an...
visited Königs Wusterhausen for his Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg.
Since 1901, Königs Wusterhausen has been home to the Brandenburg School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Brandenburgische Schule für Blinde und Sehbehinderte), endowed by the Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
merchant Hermann Schmidt.
In 1920 came the launch of Germany's first radio transmitter, the Transmitter Königs Wusterhausen
Transmitter Königs Wusterhausen
The transmitter Königs Wusterhausen was a large transmission facility for longwave, mediumwave and shortwave near Königs Wusterhausen, southeast of Berlin, Germany, which was established in 1915...
, and in 1935, Königs Wusterhausen was raised to town status. In 1937, Saint Elisabeth's Catholic Church was built and consecrated.
In 1938, the Berlin Autobahn ringroad
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
– now Bundesautobahn 10
Bundesautobahn 10
runs in Brandenburg and is an orbital motorway around Berlin and is therefore called the Berliner Ring. It should not be confused with the Berliner Stadtring ....
– was dedicated, and now serves cities and towns around Berlin, including Königs Wusterhausen. By now, the National Socialists
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
were in power, and in 1944 they built a concentration camp for Jews and Poles
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
at the railway goods station.
After the Second World War and until 1990, Königs Wusterhausen was in East Germany.
In 1972, the Central tower
Central tower (Königs Wusterhausen)
Königs Wusterhausen Central Tower was a , free standing steel framework tower on the Funkerberg of Königs Wusterhausen, Germany. The tower, with its unique triangular cross section, was built from 1924 to 1925 and was to have a 40-meter high shortwave aerial on top which would have brought it to a...
, the most prominent structure at the radio transmission facility at 243 m tall, collapsed. That same year, an Ilyushin Il-62
Ilyushin Il-62
The Ilyushin Il-62 is a Soviet long-range jet airliner conceived in 1960 by Ilyushin. As successor to the popular turbo-prop Il-18 and with capacity for almost 200 passengers, the Il-62 was the largest jet airliner when it first flew in 1963. It entered Aeroflot service on 15 September 1967 with...
crashed in Königs Wusterhausen, killing 156 people.
Christianity
In Königs Wusterhausen, there is a CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
parish as well as congregations of the Protestant church body
Landeskirche
In Germany and Switzerland, a Landeskirche is the church of a region. They originated as the national churches of the independent states, States of Germany or Cantons of Switzerland , that later unified to form modern Germany or modern Switzerland , respectively.-Origins in the Holy Roman...
named Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia is a Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony. The seat of the church is in Berlin. It is the most important Protestant denomination in the area....
. The oldest church in town is the village Wehrkirche (a church whose architecture contains typically military elements) in Deutsch Wusterhausen, built in the 13th century. In 1998 the Evangelical Königs Wusterhausen deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...
merged in the Berlin-Neukölln
Neukölln
Neukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
deanery. The Protestant congregations in Königs Wusterhausen (KW), Deutsch Wusterhausen, Niederlehme, Senzig, Zeesen, and Zernsdorf
Zernsdorf
Zernsdorf is a village in Dahme-Spreewald, Brandenburg, Germany. Since 2003 it has been part of the city of Königs Wusterhausen. The population is approximately 2,900.-Geography:...
(all components of KW) as well as that in Schenkendorf (a component of Mittenwalde
Mittenwalde
Mittenwalde is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 30 km southeast of Berlin ....
), today make up the ecclesiastical Region 9.
The Catholic parish belongs to the Deanship of Köpenick-Treptow
Treptow-Köpenick
Treptow-Köpenick is the ninth borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick.-Overview:...
of the Archdiocese of Berlin.
Both communities have very active youth groups, the Evangelical Junge Gemeinde ("Young Community") and the Katholische Jugend ("Catholic Youth").
Jewish life
For some time, there has once again been a Jewish community in the town following its disappearance during the Holocaust. It only has 40 members, but positive developments are foreseen.City council
Königs Wusterhausen's council consists of 33 town councillors, with the mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
(Bürgermeister) as head.
- PDSLeft Party (Germany)The Party of Democratic Socialism was a democratic socialist political party active in Germany from 1989 to 2007. It was the legal successor to the Socialist Unity Party , which ruled the German Democratic Republic until 1990. From 1990 through to 2005, the PDS had been seen as the left-wing...
10 seats - CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
7 seats - SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
8 seats - BB/UFL Free Voters (citizens' coalition) 4 seats
- FDP/PUDFree Democratic Party (Germany)The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
3 seats
(as of municipal elections on 26 October 2003)
City partnerships
Borough of Steglitz-ZehlendorfSteglitz-Zehlendorf
Steglitz-Zehlendorf is the sixth borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Steglitz and Zehlendorf.-Demographics:...
(Berlin) Příbram
Príbram
Příbram is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 35,147. The city is located on the Litavka river and the foothills of Brdy, 60 kilometers south-west of Prague, the country's capital...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
Germantown, Tennessee
Germantown, Tennessee
Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east. Germantown's economy is dominated by the retail and commercial service sectors; there is no heavy industry in Germantown...
, United States
Museums
- Königs Wusterhausen Transmission and Radio Technology Museum on the Funkerberg
Of the once great number of building works on the Funkerberg ("Transmitter Mountain"), only very little is preserved nowadays, as many transmission towers were dismantled for technical reasons after the Central Tower collapsed and fell on 15 November 1972. Today, only a 210-m-high mast and two small freestanding towers are to be found there. Along with the remaining buildings, this forms a technological monument.
Until 1999 this mast bore the transmitting antenna that served as the reserve antenna for the longwave
Longwave
In radio, longwave refers to parts of radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths. The term is a historic one dating from the early 20th century, when the radio spectrum was considered to consist of long, medium and short wavelengths...
stations at Zehlendorf bei Oranienburg and Donebach
Donebach
Donebach is a neighborhood of the village of Mudau, Odenwald, Germany and has 369 inhabitants. At Donebach, there is the longwave transmitter of Deutschlandfunk for broadcasting on 153 kHz, whose antenna masts are with a height of 363 metres the second tallest structure of Germany....
.
In 1994, a 67-m-high precast concrete
Precast concrete
By producing precast concrete in a controlled environment , the precast concrete is afforded the opportunity to properly cure and be closely monitored by plant employees. Utilizing a Precast Concrete system offers many potential advantages over site casting of concrete...
cellular
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
transmission tower was put up. It is today the only active transmitter on the Funkerberg.
The first attempts at transmissions were in 1908. On 22 December 1920, music and speech were transmitted wirelessly from the Funkerberg for the first time on "Welle 2400" – longwave. It went down in history as the German postal system's Christmas concert. Königs Wusterhausen is thus also said to be the cradle of German radio. The artists in that broadcast were, incidentally, postal employees. The initiative was German radio pioneer Hans Bredow's brainchild (for this and other groundbreaking work, he is considered the "Father of German Radio").
Until 1926, the popular Sonntagskonzerte ("Sunday Concerts") were broadcast. The station's studio was in the beginning a remodelled bathroom at the first broadcasting house on the Funkerberg.
Buildings
- Königs Wusterhausen Hunting Lodge and Garden, known as Prussian King Frederick WilliamFrederick William I of PrussiaFrederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
favourite place to stay. - Kreuzkirche ("Cross Church"), begun in 1693, new glazing in 1949 with 3 choir windows and 4 ornamental round panes by Charles Crodel.
- Neue Mühle ("New Mill") Canal lock (first documented in 1739), difference in levels: 1.50 m
- Watertower (begun 1910, shut down 1965), now a caféCaféA café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
with beergarden and exhibition areas - 210-metre transmission mast (built 1925)
Transport
- Railway (Königs Wusterhausen regional rail and S-BahnS-BahnS-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...
station) - Autobahns: A 10Bundesautobahn 10runs in Brandenburg and is an orbital motorway around Berlin and is therefore called the Berliner Ring. It should not be confused with the Berliner Stadtring ....
(Berliner Ring), A 13 - Highways: Bundesstraße (Federal highway) 179 (B 179)
- Air travel: near Berlin-Schönefeld International AirportBerlin-Schönefeld International AirportBerlin-Schönefeld Airport is an international airport located near the town of Schönefeld in Brandenburg, directly at the southern border of Berlin and southeast of the city centre. Schönefeld was the major civil airport of East Germany , and the only airport serving East Berlin...
(SXF) - Waterways: Königs Wusterhausen inland port.