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37-650: Berlin had been part of the Province of Brandenburg since 1815. On 1 April 1881, the city became Stadtkreis Berlin , a city district separate from Brandenburg. The Greater Berlin Act was passed by the Prussian Parliament on 27 April 1920 and came into effect on 1 October of the same year. The new Prussian province then termed Greater Berlin acquired territories from the Province of Brandenburg and consisted of

74-767: 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

111-547: 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

148-643: A stretch of about 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of and flowing through Fürstenwalde, the river forms part of the Oder-Spree Canal . On this reach, and on the reach west of the confluence with the River Dahme at Köpenick, the river forms part of secondary commercial link between Berlin and the River Oder and hence Poland . The canal diverges from the Spree just east of Fürstenwalde and later joins

185-806: Is a river in Germany and the Czech Republic . With a length of approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi), it is the main tributary of the Havel River. The Spree is much longer than the Havel, which it flows into at Berlin - Spandau ; the Havel then flows into the Elbe at Havelberg . The river rises in the Lusatian Highlands , in the Lusatian part of Saxony , where it has three sources:

222-576: Is an island in the Spree. In 2004 the Badeschiff floating swimming pool opened on the Spree in Berlin. Small craft, such as punts , are widely used in wetlands of the Spreewald. Larger craft can reach as far upstream as Leibsch, although the upper reaches are relatively shallow and are generally only used by leisure craft. Some intermediate reaches are unnavigable and by-passed by canals. For

259-792: Is the main river of Berlin, Brandenburg, Lusatia, and the settlement area of the Sorbs , who call the river Sprjewja ; the name derives ultimately from Proto-Germanic * spreutaną "to spring forth". For a very short distance close to its sources, the Spree constitutes, as Spréva , the border between Germany and the Czech Republic . The Spree's longest tributaries are Dahme (confluence in Berlin- Köpenick ) and Schwarzer Schöps ( Čorny Šepc ; confluence in Boxberg/O.L. - Sprey  [ de ] ), other well-known tributaries (since they are Berlin rivers) are Panke and Wuhle . It rises in

296-1165: 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

333-531: 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

370-773: 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 the State of Brandenburg in East Germany , which

407-675: The Lusatian Mountains and flows north through Bautzen and Spremberg . In the Spreewald the river passes through the towns of Lübbenau , Lübben and Leibsch . Just below Leibsch, the Dahme Flood Relief Canal diverts water from the Spree to run into the River Dahme at Märkisch Buchholz . The Spree continues north from Leibsch before flowing into the Neuendorfer See at the northern edge of

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444-514: The Reunification of Germany , it is the border between the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg . 52°31′01″N 13°24′29″E  /  52.517°N 13.408°E  / 52.517; 13.408 Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg ( German : Provinz Brandenburg ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1947. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from

481-661: 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

518-824: 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

555-680: 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

592-541: 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

629-437: The River Dahme at the (lake) Seddinsee . In Berlin, the Spree forms part of a dense network of navigable waterways, many of which are artificial, and which provide a wide choice of routes. Several important commercial harbors can be found on this network, and tugs and barges move sand, grain, bricks, and beer. Tour boats tour the central section of the Spree and its adjoining waterways on a frequent basis. Many people died in

666-683: 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

703-845: The Spree is where it is best known. It flows through the city centre of Berlin to join the River Havel in Spandau , one of Berlin's western boroughs, which itself ultimately merges with the Elbe to enter the sea in Cuxhaven , after flowing through Hamburg . On its route through Berlin, the river passes Berlin Cathedral ( Berliner Dom ), the Reichstag and the Schloss Charlottenburg . The renowned Museum Island ( Museumsinsel ), with its collection of five major museums ,

740-592: The Spreewald. From the Neundorfer See it then flows in an easterly direction to the Schwielochsee , and then in a northerly and westerly direction to the town of Fürstenwalde . From Fürstenwalde the river continues to flow westwards, through the Dämeritzsee and Müggelsee , to Köpenick in the southeastern part of Berlin , where it is joined by its tributary, the River Dahme. The final reach of

777-707: 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

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814-661: 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

851-476: The following: The Act increased the area of Berlin thirteen times from 6,572 hectares to 87,810 hectares. The population also rose to 4 million, making it the largest city in Germany. Greater Berlin was then subdivided into 20 boroughs ( Verwaltungsbezirke ): Through that law, it became possible to implement integrated town planning across the whole of Greater Berlin. The Act was an important foundation for

888-787: The historical one called Spreeborn in the village of Spreedorf  [ de ] , the water-richest one in Neugersdorf , and the highest elevated one in Eibau . The Spree then flows northwards through Upper and Lower Lusatia , where it crosses the border between Saxony and Brandenburg . After passing through Cottbus , it forms the Spree Forest ( German : Spreewald ), a large inland delta and biosphere reserve. It then flows through Lake Schwielochsee before entering Berlin, as Müggelspree  [ de ] ( pronounced [ˈmʏɡl̩ˌʃpʁeː] ). The Spree

925-601: 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

962-514: 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

999-537: 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

1036-687: 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

1073-415: 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

1110-566: The rise of Berlin to a cultural centre of Europe in the 1920s . Apart from minor changes, the city boundary defined in the law is still the same as today even though its character has changed several times over the years. Originally a mere municipal boundary, it became a demarcation line between occupation zones after 1945 and part of the Iron Curtain after 1949, with the Berlin Wall on some of its length between 1961 and 1990. Since

1147-641: 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 ,

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1184-904: 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 ) Spree (river) The Spree ( / ʃ p r eɪ , s p r eɪ / S(H)PRAY , German: [ʃpʁeː] ; Sorbian languages : Sprjewja , Lower Sorbian: [ˈsprʲɛwʲa] , Upper Sorbian: [ˈspʁʲɛwʲa] ; Czech : Spréva [ˈsprɛːva] ; in Lower Sorbian also called Rěka )

1221-401: 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

1258-455: 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

1295-400: 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 the Elbe river in

1332-405: 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,

1369-476: 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

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