Fürstenberg/Havel

Fürstenberg
Church in Blumenow
Coat of arms
Fürstenberg
Location of Fürstenberg within Oberhavel district
Coordinates: 53°11′07″N 13°08′44″E / 53.18528°N 13.14556°ECoordinates: 53°11′07″N 13°08′44″E / 53.18528°N 13.14556°E
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Oberhavel
Government
• Mayor	Robert Philipp (Ind.)
Area
• Total	212.61 km^2 (82.09 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
• Total	5,854
• Density	28/km^2 (71/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	16798
Dialling codes	033093
Vehicle registration	OHV
Website	www.fuerstenberg-havel.de

Fürstenberg (formerly, Tornow or Tarnow) is a town in the Oberhavel district, Brandenburg, Germany.

Until 1919, Fürstenberg was part of the former Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Geography

Stream near Tornow

Fürstenberg is situated on the River Havel, 21 kilometres (13 mi) south of Neustrelitz, and 75 kilometres (47 mi) north of Berlin.

The city lies at the southern edge of the Mecklenburg Lake District and is framed by the Röblinsee, Baalensee, and Schwedtsee lakes. The River Havel splits into several channels as it flows through the town, one of which contains a lock used by vessels navigating the river. The original town site was situated on an island between these channels.

Districts of Fürstenberg

Fürstenberg consists of 9 districts:

• Altthymen
• Barsdorf
• Blumenow
• Bredereiche
• Himmelpfort
• Steinförde
• Tornow
• Zootzen

Fürstenberg Palace

Fürstenberg Palace

North from the center of the city 'Fürstenberg Palace' is located, which has been built between 1741 und 1752 by the architect Christoph Julius Löwe for Dorothea Sophie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of Adolphus Frederick III, the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In world war I and world war II the palace was used as a hospital.

History

In 1758, the Battle of Tornow was fought near the town between the forces of Prussia and Sweden during the Seven Years' War.

In the Nazi era, Fürstenberg was the site of Ravensbrück concentration camp. A memorial has been raised on the site.

Overrun by the Soviet Army in 1945, post-World War II they established the base of the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the Soviet Forces in Germany. In early 1959, three years before the Cuban Missile Crisis, the site was equipped with 6 of the R-5 Pobeda nuclear missiles, capable of launching from a mobile launcher from one of four tennis-court-sized sites capable of handling the larger R-12 Dvina.^[2] Similar sites were set up at Vogelsang, Zehdenick and Lychen (1xpad).^[3] After the withdrawal of the missiles in September 1959, the site returned to its original purpose as a tank army base.

Since the formation of the states (German Länder) in the GDR in 1990, Fürstenberg again belongs to the state of Brandenburg, and from 1993 became part of the newly formed district Oberhavel. The Russian Army troops were withdrawn from their former East German bases in 1994.

Demography

• 
  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)
• 
  Recent Population Development (Blue Line) and Forecasts

Fürstenberg/Havel:
Population development within the current boundaries (2013)^[4]

Year Population 1875 4 896 1890 5 389 1910 5 780 1925 7 710 1933 8 799 1939 9 510 1946 12 557 1950 12 796 1964 10 041 1971 9 621

Year Population 1981 8 545 1985 8 311 1989 7 990 1990 7 860 1991 7 716 1992 7 654 1993 7 647 1994 7 607 1995 7 630 1996 7 531

Year Population 1997 7 473 1998 7 403 1999 7 348 2000 7 220 2001 7 117 2002 6 966 2003 6 870 2004 6 792 2005 6 716 2006 6 623

Year Population 2007 6 517 2008 6 442 2009 6 356 2010 6 257 2011 6 054 2012 5 972 2013 5 959

Sons and daughters of the city

Martin Blumner (early photograph)

• Martin Blumner (1827-1901), composer, conductor and musical theorist
• Walter Bartel (1904-1992), resistance fighter and historian

Connected to Fürstenberg

• Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), archaeologist, 1836-1841 Apprentice in Fürstenberg
• Otto Hammann (1852-1928), lawyer and presser, died in Fürstenberg
• Oskar Minkowski (1858-1931), physician, died in Fürstenberg
• Semyon Konstantinovich Kurkotkin (1917-1990), Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander of the 2. Armored Army in Fürstenberg
• Daniel Domscheit-Berg (born 1978), former speaker of the Unveiling Platform WikiLeaks, lives in Fürstenberg

References

1. "Bevölkerung im Land Brandenburg nach amtsfreien Gemeinden, Ämtern und Gemeinden 31. Dezember 2015 (Fortgeschriebene amtliche Einwohnerzahlen auf Grundlage des Zensus 2011)". Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). 2016.
2. http://wikimapia.org/8018296/F%C3%BCrstenberg-Soviet-Nuclear-Missile-Base-Nuclear-Storage-Bunkers
3. http://wikimapia.org/10136992/Vogelsang-Soviet-Nuclear-Missile-Launch-Pads
4. Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.Population Projection Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons

Gallery

• 
  Former brewery in Himmelpfort
• 
  Church in Tornow
• 
  Castle in Tornow

External links

Media related to Fürstenberg/Havel at Wikimedia Commons

• Official site (German)