The State of Brandenburg stretches between the rivers Elbe and
Oder and surrounds the area of Berlin. Apart from pine and fir forests this
region mostly consists of sandy plain. There are 3,000 rivers and lakes in this
area with the Havel and the Spree as the main rivers.
Brandenburg's historic centre is divided into three distinct parts - the
Dominsel , the Altstadt and the Neustadt - each of which is situated on its own
island in the Havel.
For all its illustrious past - founded by the Slavs in the 6th century, made
the seat of a precarious missionary German bishopric in the 10th century, before
becoming the capital of the Margravate established by Albert the Bear in 1157.
Its more recent history has been a catalogue of misfortunes. These began when
the Nazis chose it as the site of a concentration camp; GDR dictator Erich
Honecker served twelve years there and among those murdered were 10,000 victims
of a compulsory euthanasia programme for the mentally handicapped. The Nazis
turned Brandenburg's industry - hitherto based on the production of bikes and
motor vehicles - over to military purposes, ensuring the city was a prime target
for Allied bombers. It was further damaged by the Red Army in 1945, when the
defenders mounted a futile last-ditch resistance. After the war, the Communists
made it the metropolis for the steel industry as their dogma demanded; as a
result, the medieval skyline was disfigured by the addition of sixteen smoking
chimneys and drab apartment buildings to accommodate its workers. Many historic
buildings were left in ruins, while others rotted under the impact of some of
the worst air pollution in Europe.
Despite all these misfortunes, Brandenburg still has a great deal to offer,
including some magnificent examples of northern German brick architecture and a
beautiful natural setting at a point where the broad course of the Havel River
fashions a wondrous lake-strewn landscape.
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