Kladow () is the southernmost district of the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany.

Geography

Located approximately 17 Km from central Berlin (

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

), the district of Kladow is bordered by the District of

Gatow Gatow (), a district of south-western Berlin is located west of the ''Havelsee'' lake and has forested areas within its boundaries. It is within the borough of Spandau. On 31 December 2002, it had 5,532 inhabitants. History Gatow's existence was ...

to the north, by the

Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe and long. However, the direct distance from its source to its mo ...

to the east and southeast and by the State of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

(partly

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

) to the west and south west. The neighbouring village of Sacrow and main part of

Groß Glienicke Groß Glienicke is a village located both in Berlin and Potsdam, the capital of the German state of Brandenburg. Until 2003, when it was merged into Potsdam, the Brandenburg—and main—side, was an autonomous municipality. The Berlin side is p ...

are located in

. With around 11,500 residents, Kladow has managed to keep its village character, even though it is a part of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

capital.

History

Kladow was first mentioned as ''Clodow'' in 1267, which makes it the oldest section of Spandau. Intensive settlement of what had previously been farming villages began in the early 19th century. At the border of Greater Berlin, Kladow was annexed into Spandau in 1920. Kladow has since 2003 contained part of the former airfield of

RAF Gatow Royal Air Force Gatow, or more commonly RAF Gatow, was a British Royal Air Force station (military airbase) in the district of Gatow in south-western Berlin, west of the Havel river, in the borough of Spandau. It was the home for the only k ...

, which was, along with

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...

and

Tegel Tegel () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area (after Köpenick) of the 96 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of ''Saatwinkel ...

, one of the three airports that made the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

possible. Today, Kladow describes itself as a village in a city of millions. Buildings such as the Gut Neukladow (1800) and the Village Church (1818) date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, although there are also many new housing estates, such as the Finnenhaussiedlung erected in 1959/60. The newest housing estate in the area is the former Gatow Airport (most of which is again part of Kladow), known as the ''Landstadt'' for

civil servants The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. With the opening of a new shopping center (The Cladow-Center), commercial activity has partially moved out from the village's center. Nevertheless, the area retains selection of stores and restaurants.

Transportation

Kladow is well connected to the rest of Berlin with the Berlin Metro system. It was connected by bus as early as 1924, and it is now possible to reach the city centre in around 45 minutes using the Express Bus Line (X34). In addition, the F10 ferry travels hourly between Kladow and

Wannsee Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger ''Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee, "See" means lake) and the ...

is around 40 minutes away by bus or by ferry to Wannsee and then S-bahn.

Education

Education is provided in Kladow by a secondary school, the Hans-Carossa-Gymnasium; two primary schools, Grundschule am Ritterfeld and Mary-Poppins-Grundschule, and an independent

Waldorf school Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical skil ...

, the Eugen Kolisko School.

References

*The information in this article is based on its German equivalent.

External links