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

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 synonymo ...

-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 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 longes ...

. 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, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

. 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 or ...

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

connected Bernau with the Stettiner Bahnhof (today Berlin Nordbahnhof) in Berlin. The ADGB Trade Union School (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., 20 ...

director Hannes Meyer, 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, w ...

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 ...

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 o ...

created the monument for the victims of the witch hunt.

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-typ ...

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 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 Plattenbauten (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'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, Schwedt,

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, N ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. The Bundesautobahn A11 from Berlin to Prenzlau 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, France * Meckenheim, Germany * Skwierzyna, Poland

Notable people

Honorary citizen

* Konrad Wolf (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 (born 1944), musician and composer * Jeanette Biedermann (born 1980), entertainer

People associated with Bernau

* Marianne Buggenhagen (born 1953), several times

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

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, ...

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