Belzig is a historic
townA town is a type of settlement ranging from a few hundred to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition...
in
BrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen 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...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
located about southwest of
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
. It is the capital of the
Potsdam-MittelmarkPotsdam-Mittelmark is a Kreis in the western part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are the district Havelland, the district free cities Brandenburg and Potsdam, the Bundesland Berlin, the district Teltow-Fläming, and the districts Wittenberg, Anhalt-Bitterfeld and Jerichower Land in...
district.
Geography
Belzig is located within the
FlämingThe Fläming Heath is a region and a hill chain that reaches over 100 km from the Elbe river to the Dahme River in the German states Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. Its highest elevation is the Hagelberg...
hill range and in the centre of the
High Fläming Nature ParkHigh Fläming Nature Park is a 827 km² nature park in Potsdam-Mittelmark district in the German state Brandenburg. It is the third largest of 11 nature parks in the state of Brandenburg...
. The plains north of the town are home to one of the few
Great BustardThe Great Bustard, Otis tarda, is in the bustard family, the only member of the genus Otis. It breeds in southern and central Europe, where it is the largest species of bird, and across temperate Asia. European populations are mainly resident, but Asian birds move further south in winter...
populations in Germany.
Since 2003, when 14 surrounding villages were incorporated into Belzig, some of them voluntarily, others by Brandenburg
LandtagA Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.The German word "Landtag" is composed of the words Land which names a political entity comparable to a federal state and the word Tag...
(state diet) legislation, Belzig has an area of 234.83 km². These villages became districts (
Ortsteile) of Belzig:
- Bergholz
- Borne
- Dippmannsdorf
- Fredersdorf
- Groß Briesen
|
Hagelberg
Kuhlowitz
Lübnitz
Lüsse
Lütte |
Neschholz
Ragösen
Schwanebeck
Werbig |
The forest of Verlorenwasser near Werbig encompassed the
geographical centreIn geography, the centroid of a region of the Earth's surface is often known as its geographical centre.*Geographical centre of Europe**Geographical centre of Austria**Geographical centre of Belgium**Geographical centre of Lithuania**Centre of Norway...
of East Germany.
History
A
SlavicThe Slavic Peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in eastern and central Europe. From the early 6th century they spread from their original homeland to inhabit most of eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans...
fort of
Belizi was first mentioned in a 997 deed issued by
Emperor Otto IIIOtto III was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected king of Germany in 983 on the death of his father Otto II.-Early years:...
in favour of the
Archbishopric of MagdeburgThe Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese within the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Magdeburg and it was located along the Elbe River....
. Whether this denotation refers to Belzig or the neighbouring town of
BeelitzBeelitz is a town in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated about 18 km south of Potsdam, in a glacial sandur plain surrounded by extended pine woods...
has not been conclusively established. Nevertheless both towns celebrated their 1000 years anniversary in 1997.
The estates however had actually already been lost in the Slavic uprising of 983 and were not conquered again until 1153 by Albert the Bear from the House of Ascania. In 1251 the castle
(Burg Eisenhardt) and the adjacent settlement became part of
Saxe-WittenbergThe Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg was a medieval duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, which emerged after the dissolution of the stem duchy of Saxony. It is the precursor of the Saxon Electorate....
under Albert's successor
Duke Albert IAlbert I was a Duke of Saxony, Angria, and Westphalia; Lord of Nordalbingia; Count of Anhalt; and Prince-elector and Archmarshal of the Holy Roman Empire....
. However it was claimed by the bishops of Magdeburg, whose forces devastated Belzig in 1406. The rebuilt castle was again seized by the
HussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Huss , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
general
Prokop the GreatProkop or Prokop the Great was one of the most prominent Hussite generals of the Hussite Wars...
when he invaded Saxony in 1429, after which
Elector Ernest of SaxonyErnst, Elector of Saxony was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486.-Biography:Ernst was founder of the Ernestine line of Saxon princes, ancestor of George I of Great Britain, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, as well as his wife and cousin Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and their...
from the House of Wettin enlarged it to a fortress. During the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
it was seized by the troops of the
Swedish EmpireSweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or stormaktstiden .-Sweden's emergence into a great power:...
in 1636, after
Elector John George IJohn George I was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656.-Biography:Born in Dresden, he was the second son of the Elector Christian I and Sophie of Brandenburg....
had allied with
Emperor Ferdinand IIFerdinand II , of the House of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , King of Hungary .-Life:...
in the
Peace of PragueThe Peace of Prague of 15 June 1635 was a treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, and most of the Protestant states of the Empire...
.
The
RomanesqueRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe, characterised by semi-circular arches, and evolving into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches, beginning in the 12th century...
St Mary's Church was built in the late 13th century. According to an inscription in the
keystoneA keystone is the architectural piece at the crown of a vault or arch which marks its apex, locking the other pieces into position. This makes a keystone very important structurally. In an arch, the keystone is usually larger than the voussoirs that make up the arch and may serve primarily an...
of the western entrance,
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
preached here on January 14, 1530. Eisenhardt Castle. Belzig was granted
town privilegesGerman town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
in 1702. During the
War of the Sixth CoalitionIn the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers joined Russia,...
on August 27, 1813 troops of the
French EmpireThe term French Empire can refer to:* Two Empires of the French founded by members of the House of Bonaparte,** The First French Empire of Napoleon I and II ** The Second French Empire of Napoleon III...
and Saxony were attacked by
PrussianThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
and
RussianThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
forces near the village of Hagelberg. The encounter ended in a French defeat, while several Saxon units went over to the Prussians. According to the Final Act of the 1815
Congress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November, 1814 to June, 1815. Its objective was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
Belzig was ceded to Prussia and became part of the
Province of BrandenburgThe Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Its capital was originally Potsdam, before moving to Berlin in 1827, then back to Potsdam in 1843 and finally in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1918.-History:The province of Brandenburg...
, after having belonged to the Saxon Electorate for centuries.
In 1934 ammunition works were established in Belzig including a
labor campA labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
with about 1500 forced laborers. During the years 1936-1945, Burg Eisenhardt was the site of the Reichsschule der TN (Technischen Nothilfe) - the Leadership School for the TeNo / Technischen Nothilfe. (The Technischen Nothilfe was abolished in May, 1945, but was reborn by Otto Lummitzsch as the THW [Technische Hilfswerke] in 1950, and exists to this day, as the premier Germany Emergency Relief Organization.) Between 1940 and 1945 also a subcamp of the women's concentration camp
RavensbrückRavensbrück or Ravensbrueck was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
with about 750 inmates was located nearby. Belzig was also the site of a large
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station, erected in 1939. In 1952 the town became the capital of the Belzig district and in 1993 also of the newly created district of Potsdam-Mittelmark. In 1995 Belzig was awarded the official title of a climatic health resort.
Politics
Hannelore Klabunde is mayor of Belzig. On September 28, 2008 she was directly elected with a support of 57,5% of the vote.
The municipal assembly
(Stadtverordnetenversammlung) has 22 members. As of the 2008 elections the Social Democrats (
SPDThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is Germany's oldest political party. The party governed at the federal level in a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union until conceding defeat in the federal election of September 2009...
) have 5 seats, the Left Party (Die Linke) 4, the Christian Democrats (
CDUThe Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany....
) 4,
Free VotersFree Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party...
2 and the Liberals (FDP) and the Greens (
GrüneThe Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany which originated from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
) 1 seat each. The remaining seats went to small local groups.
The town's shield depicts the
coat of arms of SaxonyThis article is about the coat of arms of the German state of Saxony. It is used on the state flag of Saxony. It has nine green and gold/yellow stripes and is charged with a crown in bend - running from viewer's top-left ot bottom-right...
due to the long-time affiliation with the
Saxon ElectorateThe Electorate of Saxony or Duchy of Upper Saxony was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806...
.
Twinning
Belzig is twinned with
RitterhudeRitterhude is a municipality in the district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the Hamme River, approx. 6 km southwest of Osterholz-Scharmbeck, and 13 km northwest of Bremen.Ritterhude belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen...
, a town in the German state of
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
.
Places of Interest
Main attractions are medieval
Eisenhardt castle and the thermal bath
SteinTherme. There is also a pittoresque
historic town centre with the town hall and the market place in the middle.
Places of interest in the incorporated villages include
Glien Manor (
Klein Glien) in Hagelberg and the windmill in Borne.
Economy
The district administration is the major employer in Belzig. Belzig is the central town of rural High Fläming area. Thus there are schools, shops, supermarkets, a hospital and a cinema that are used by folk from the surrounding villages and towns. There is a successful rehabilitation clinic in Belzig. After 1989, Belzig has started an ambitious programme to become a spa town and to bring forward tourism.
External links