Bernau bei Berlin (English ''Bernau by Berlin'', commonly named Bernau) is a German town in the

Barnim Barnim () is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) Poland, the district of Märkisch-Oderland, the city state of Berlin and the districts of Oberhavel and Uckermark. History The name "Barnim" emer ...

district. The town is located about northeast of

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 ...

History

Archaeological excavations of

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

-era sites indicate that this area has been inhabited since about 8800 BC. The city was first mentioned in 1232. The reasons for its founding are not known. According to a legend,

Albert I of Brandenburg Albert the Bear (german: Albrecht der Bär; 1100 – 18 November 1170) was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142. Life Albert was the only son of Otto, Count of Bal ...

permitted the founding of the city in 1140 because of the good beer which was offered to him. Beer was brewed with water from the river

Panke The Panke is a small river in Brandenburg and Berlin, a right tributary of the Spree, originating from the Barnim plateau. It has a length of 29 km, of which 20,2 are within the area of Berlin. Consequently, the Panke is the third longest ...

. Therefore, it was forbidden by law to pollute this river with waste and excrement when brewing took place. Bernau had its boom years before the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. Large parts of the

defensive wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

with

town gate A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and wet moats are relics of that time. These helped Bernau defend itself successfully against attackers, e.g. the

Hussite The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Hussit ...

s in 1432. Following the plague and war, Bernau became poor and bleak.

Frederick I of Prussia Frederick I (german: Friedrich I.; 11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union ( Brandenburg-Prussia). The latter function h ...

settled 25

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

families (craftsmen, farmers, traders, and scientists) in 1699. In 1842 a railway line was opened. One of the first electrical suburban railway lines in the world began operation in 1924. This line of the

Berlin S-Bahn The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under this name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff area ''Berliner Stadt-, Ring ...

connected Bernau with the Stettiner Bahnhof (today

Berlin Nordbahnhof Berlin Nordbahnhof (until 1950 Stettiner Bahnhof) is a railway station in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. It is served by the Berlin S-Bahn and local bus and tram lines. History First station In 1842, the ''Stettiner Bahnhof'' opened as t ...

) in Berlin. The

ADGB Trade Union School The ADGB Trade Union School (''Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes'' (ADGB)), is a training centre complex in Bernau bei Berlin, Germany. It was built for the former General German Trade Union Federation, from 1928 to 1930 ...

(Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes), designed by

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

director

Hannes Meyer Hans Emil "Hannes" Meyer (18 November 1889 – 19 July 1954) was a Swiss architect and second director of the Bauhaus Dessau from 1928 to 1930. Early life Meyer was born in Basel, Switzerland, trained as a mason, and practiced as an architect ...

, opened in 1930. It was included as part of the World Heritage Site the

Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau is a World Heritage Site in Germany, comprising six separate sites which are associated with the Bauhaus art school. It was designated in 1996 with four initial sites, and in 2017 two further si ...

in July 2017. The

Waldsiedlung Waldsiedlung (German for "Forest settlement") was the secure housing zone for the leaders of the German Democratic Republic in Bernau bei Berlin, Brandenburg from 1960 to 1989. Waldsiedlung housed the most senior party members of the ruling Soc ...

(engl. residential area in the wood) is a district of the city where the political leaders of the GDR lived isolated from the people. Bernau Amtsgericht

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Bernau.pdf, 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) File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Bernau.pdf, Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the

Census in Germany A national census in Germany (german: Volkszählung) was held every five years from 1875 to 1910. After the World Wars, only a few full population censuses have been held, the last in 1987. The most recent census, though not a national census, wa ...

in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2014-2030 (red line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)

Main sights

Museums

The museum of local history has two locations. One is the

with the former prison ''Hungerturm'' (Tower of Hunger). It is one of formerly three town gates, that were part of the defensive wall. Today, armour and instruments of torture of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

are shown there. Common furniture from several epochs, and utensils of the executioner are exhibited in the ''Henkerhaus'' (executioner's house) to demonstrate life in the small town. In 2005 the Wolf Kahlen Museum opened. Media art from over 40 years is shown. In 2005

Annelie Grund Annelie Grund (born 28 June 1953, Berlin) is a German artist, stained glass artist, artist and musician. She lives in Wandlitz and is married to the architect Manfred Thon. Biography 1976 she acquired the diploma at the Humboldt University ...

created the monument for the victims of the

witch hunt A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...

Buildings

The church St. Marien ( Late Gothic style) dominates the skyline of the town. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was built in the 15th century. Large parts of the defensive walls and wet moats of the Middle Ages are preserved. The defensive wall is supplemented by several lookout houses, the ''Pulverturm'' (armoury) and a town gate. Until the 1960s the city centre, enclosed by the defensive wall, consisted of small old buildings with

timber framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

construction. Most of them were in a bad state because no funds were available in the GDR to renovate these buildings. It was decided to change Bernau into an exemplary city of socialist architecture. Nearly all the old houses were torn down in the 1960s and 1970s and new so-called

Plattenbau (plural: , german: Platte + Bau, lit=panel/slab' + 'building/ construction) is a building constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs. The word is a compound of (in this context: panel) and (building). Such buildings are often found ...

ten (buildings constructed of prefabricated concrete slabs) were built. The new houses had a maximum of four storeys to fit in with the architecture to the historic structure of the city. The former ADGB school is located in the northeast of the town. It is the largest building in the

style besides the Bauhaus itself. File:Bernau_Breitscheidstr_2.jpg, File:Bernau_Breitscheidstr_35.jpg, File:Bernau_Breitscheidstr_37.jpg, File:Bernau_Breitscheidstr_38.jpg, File:Bernau_Breitscheidstr_40.jpg, File:Bernau_Breitscheidstr_42.jpg, File:Bernau_Breitscheidstr_58.jpg,

Transport

The line S2 of the

(suburban railway) connects Bernau with Berlin

Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße () (lit. ''Frederick Street'') is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station. It runs from the northern pa ...

's station, in the center of that city

Regional rail Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster serv ...

services connect Bernau with

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in the German State ( Bundesland / ''federated state'') of Brandenburg, about 50 km northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005), geographi ...

Schwedt Schwedt (or Schwedt/Oder; ) is a town in Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. With the official status of a ''Große Kreisstadt, Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (major district town), it is the largest town of the Uckermark (district), Uckermark ...

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

in northbound direction and with

Berlin Hauptbahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...

Berlin Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the homonymous borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg. Until 2001 it was an autonomous district with the localities of Fennpfuhl, Rummelsburg, Friedrichsfelde and Karlshorst. History The h ...

and

Elsterwerda Elsterwerda (; Lower Sorbian: ''Wikow'') is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Black Elster river, 48 km northwest of Dresden, and 11 km southeast of Bad Liebenwerda. Histo ...

in southbound direction. Long-distance trains go to

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The

Bundesautobahn A11 is an autobahn in eastern Germany that was opened in 1936. As it is partly in a dilapidated state, it is currently undergoing modernisation works on various stretches. The road forms the main connection between Berlin and Szczecin, and it is con ...

from Berlin to

Prenzlau Prenzlau (, formerly also Prenzlow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Uckermark District. It is also the centre of the historic Uckermark region. Geography The town is located on the Ucker river, about north of Be ...

and

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

has the two exits ''Bernau Nord'' (number 15) and ''Bernau Süd'' (number 16).

Twin towns – sister cities

Bernau bei Berlin is twinned with: *

Champigny-sur-Marne Champigny-sur-Marne (, literally ''Champigny on Marne'') is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Name Champigny-sur-Marne was originally called simply Champigny. The name Champigny ul ...

, France *

Meckenheim Meckenheim (; ksh, Meckem) is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km south-west of Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in t ...

, Germany *

Skwierzyna Skwierzyna (german: Schwerin an der Warthe) is a town of 9,671 inhabitants (2019) in Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland, the administrative seat of the Gmina Skwierzyna. It is located at the confluence of the Obra and Warta rivers, about nor ...

, Poland

Notable people

Honorary citizen

Konrad Wolf Konrad Wolf (20 October 1925 – 7 March 1982) was an East Germany, East German film director. He was the son of writer, doctor and diplomat Friedrich Wolf (writer), Friedrich Wolf, and the younger brother of Stasi spymaster Markus Wolf. "K ...

(1925–1982), film director, President of the Academy of Arts, was the first city commander of Bernau after the Second World War (April 1945) at the age of 19, honorary citizen since 1975

Sons and daughters of the city

* Charlotte Mäder (born 1905), athlete *

Hans-Jürgen Buchner Haindling is a German band founded in 1983 by Hans-Jürgen Buchner. The band specializes in Bavarian world music, a mixture of different musical styles such as pop, rock, folk, ambient, jazz and classical music. Most of the songs are writte ...

(born 1944), musician and composer *

Jeanette Biedermann Jeanette Biedermann (born Jean Biedermann, 22 February 1980) is a German singer, actress, and television personality. Born and raised in the greater Berlin area, Biedermann began performing as a member of a troupe of acrobats in a children's circ ...

(born 1980), entertainer

People associated with Bernau

Marianne Buggenhagen Marianne Buggenhagen (born 26 May 1953 in Ueckermünde, East Germany) is a Paralympian Track and field, athlete from Germany competing mainly in throwing events. Career history She first competed in the 1992 Summer Para ...

(born 1953), several times Paralympics winner, lives in Bernau * Wolf Kahlen (born 1940), performance, object and media artist, opened his museum in Bernau in 2005 * Günther Maleuda (1931–2012),

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

( DBD), President of the GDR in the turn-time of the GDR *

(1889–1954), architect, built the Bundesschule des Allgemeine Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbundes (ADGB Trade Union School) in Bernau from 1928 to 1930 * (born 1961), youth judge in Bernau * Johanna Olbrich (1926–2004), spy, lived out her final years in Bernau

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernau Bei Berlin Localities in Barnim