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Zossen (; hsb, Sosny) is a German town in the district of
Teltow-Fläming Teltow-Fläming () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the east clockwise) Dahme-Spreewald, Elbe-Elster, the districts Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt, the district Potsdam-Mitte ...
in
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 ...
, about south 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 ...
, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the city.


Geography

Since the 2003 municipal reform, Zossen consists of the following districts and municipalities:


History

Zossen, like most places in Brandenburg, was originally a Slavic settlement. Its name (Upper Sorbian: ''Sosny'') may derive from ''Sosna'' meaning
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
, a tree quite common in the region. In 1875,
Zossen railway station Zossen (german: Bahnhof Zossen) is a railway station in the town of Zossen, Brandenburg, Germany. The station lies on the Berlin–Dresden railway and the train services are operated by Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the ...
opened on the railway line from Berlin to
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 the
Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
military railway to the artillery range at Kummersdorf-Gut in present-day
Am Mellensee Am Mellensee is a municipality in the Teltow-Fläming district of Brandenburg, Germany. The municipality, south of Berlin, is the home of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gertrud. An Associated Press story appearing in the August 1, 2011 online version ...
. Between 1901 and 1904, Zossen adopted the use of different high-speed vehicles, such as electric locomotives and trams, for transportation to and from Berlin-
Marienfelde Marienfelde () is a locality in southwest Berlin, Germany, part of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg borough. The former village, incorporated according to the Greater Berlin Act of 1920, today is a mixed industrial and residential area. Geography The ...
. These vehicles were powered by an alternating current of 15 kV and used a variable frequency. The power was transmitted by three vertical overhead lines. In 1910, a proving ground and a garrison of the Imperial German Army was established at the Waldstadt section of the Wünsdorf community – surviving to the present day. In World War I it was the site of several
prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...
s, including the "
crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...
camp" (''
Halbmondlager The (known in English as the "Half Moon Camp") was a prisoner-of-war camp in Wünsdorf (now part of Zossen), Germany, during the First World War. The camp housed between 4,000 and 5,000 Muslim prisoners of war who had fought for the Allied s ...
'' for
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s who had fought for the
Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
), where the first wooden
mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
in Germany was erected. The camp ran from 1915 until 1917, and was used as a show camp for propaganda purposes, as well as an attempt to encourage the prisoners to fight for the Central Powers. From 1939 to 1945, Wünsdorf hosted the underground headquarters of the German
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
( OKW) and Army's High Command (
OKH The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at ...
). After World War II the area became the site of a
Soviet military The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...
camp in
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
known as "Little Moscow" or the "Forbidden City", the largest outside
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, housing as many as 75,000 Soviet men, women and children with daily trains going to Moscow,"The Forbidden City: inside the abandoned Soviet camp of Wünsdorf"
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', Ciarán Fahey, 11 January 2017
until Soviet troops pulled out in August 1994. Since then it has returned to civilian use as the Wünsdorf-Waldstadt
book town A book town is a town or village with many used book or antiquarian bookstores. These stores, as well as literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists. Some book towns are members of the International Organisation of Book Towns. List of boo ...
(founded in 1998), although much of it lies abandoned with evidence of Soviet occupation clearly visible. By late 2019, roughly 1,700 apartments were made from the old barracks, with another 700 planned for subsequent years. A 2017 news report indicates that at the peak, the camp was home to some 75,000 Soviet persons; stores, schools and leisure centres were available to them. After the camp was abandoned, the authorities found "98,300 rounds of ammunition, 47,000 pieces of ordnance, 29.3 tonnes of munitions and rubbish, including chemicals ... houses were full of domestic appliances". While new uses have not been found for the installations and bunkers of the unmodified areas of the military camp, they are somewhat maintained and there are various guided tours, exhibits and events. Some parts remain off-limits.


Timeline

*1809/1810: Kietz and the vineyards of Zossen are suburbanised *1885: Monument to the fallen soldiers of the 1864, 1866, and 1870 wars is erected in Kietz *1906: School on Kirchplatz is expanded *1910: Military area between Zossen and
Wünsdorf Zossen (; hsb, Sosny) is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, about south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the ci ...
is developed *1932: Flyers of the town councillor and deacon regarding the threatening change in the Protestant community and the city Zossen *1933: As a result of the
National Socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
' rise to power,
Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
and
Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
in Zossen are arrested by SS troops and are held in the school on Kirchplatz. Emil Phillip is removed from his post, upon the order of Pastor Eckerts *1934: Expansion of the town hall *1939: The military zone in Zossen is developed into military headquarters *1956: The city park is created *1992: The "Alter Krug" Zossen society is founded *1994: Formation of the administrative district of
Teltow-Fläming Teltow-Fläming () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the east clockwise) Dahme-Spreewald, Elbe-Elster, the districts Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt, the district Potsdam-Mitte ...
from the old districts of
Jüterbog Jüterbog () is a historic town in north-eastern Germany, in the Teltow-Fläming district of Brandenburg. It is on the Nuthe river at the northern slope of the Fläming hill range, about southwest of Berlin. History The Slavic settlement of ' ...
,
Luckenwalde Luckenwalde (; Upper and dsb, Łukowc) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the German state of Brandenburg. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park, about ...
, and Zossen *1996: 450th anniversary of Prince Elector Joachim II's awarding of rights and privileges to Zossen *1998: Wünsdorf Book Town declared, the only book town in Germany – though Mühlbeck-Friedersdorf, which started in 1997, claims to be the first book town in Germany.


Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Zossen.pdf, Population since 1875 within the current borders (blue line: population; dotted line: normalized population of Brandenburg; grey background: time of Nazi rule; red background: time of communist rule) File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Zossen.pdf, Population 2005–2018 (blue lines) and projections to 2030 (dotted lines) from 2005 (yellow line), 2017 (velvet line) and 2020 (green line), including census in 2011


Mayors

* Hans-Jürgen Lüders (SPD) 1993–2003 * Michaela Schreiber: 2003-2019 * Wiebke Schwarzweller: since 2019


Notable people

* Karl Friedrich August Lehmann (1843–1893), stenographer and inventor of the shorthand system *
Frieda Kassen ''Frida'' is a 2002 film about artist Frida Kahlo Frida, Frieda, or Freida may also refer to: People *Frida (given name), a feminine given name * Frieda (surname) * Frieda (''Peanuts''), a character from the comic strip ''Peanuts'' * Afroditi ...
(1895–1970), politician (SPD) * Walter Budeus (1902–1944), Communist and resistance fighter * Roy Präger (born 1971), football player


See also

* Großer Wünsdorfer See *
List of Soviet military sites in Germany The List of Soviet military sites in Germany contains all military installations and units of the former Soviet Union on German territory. In correlation to Russian native document, original site designations of the Soviet armed forces are used ...


References


External links


Zossen Home page
— in German only {{Authority control Localities in Teltow-Fläming Teltow (region) Military facilities of the Soviet Union in Germany