Ahrensfelde is a municipality in the district of Barnim, in

Brandenburg, Germany Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a 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 area of 29,480 squar ...

. It is situated on the

Barnim Plateau The Barnim Plateau is a plateau which is occupied by the northeastern parts of Berlin and the surrounding federal state of Brandenburg in Germany. Boundaries and Subdivision Boundaries The limits of the plateau are easily definable. The sout ...

at the city limits 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 ...

, about northeast of the city centre. The municipal area comprises the villages of Ahrensfelde, Blumberg, Eiche, Lindenberg, and Mehrow.

History

Ahrensfelde, like the neighbouring village of Eiche, was first mentioned in the 1375 ''Landbuch'' (domesday book) survey executed for Emperor Charles IV, after he had acquired the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out ...

two years before. The oldest village however is Blumberg, once a possession held by the Bishops of Brandenburg, which was first mentioned as ''Blumenberch'' in 1253. Blumberg manor was acquired by the poet and diplomat

Friedrich von Canitz Friedrich Rudolf Ludwig Freiherr von Canitz (27 November 1654 – 11 August 1699) was a German poet and diplomat. He was one of the few German poets of his era that Frederick the Great enjoyed. Biography Canitz was born in Berlin, Branden ...

in the late 17th century, the castle was later rebuilt according to plans by

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassic ...

with a park designed by

Peter Joseph Lenné Peter Joseph Lenné (the Younger) (29 September 1789 – 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect. As director general of the Royal Prussian palaces and parks in Potsdam and Berlin, his work shaped the development of 19 ...

. It was destroyed by the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

during the 1945

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...

. The art historian

Adolf Bötticher Adolf Bötticher or Adolf Boetticher (12 December 1842 – 9 June 1901) was a German art historian and conservator. Bötticher was born in Blumberg, Brandenburg, and studied at the Bauakademie in Berlin (1865–68). After performing excavato ...

was a native of Blumberg. In 1908 the Ahrensfelde Cemetery was established by the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union as a multi-regional burial site outside of Berlin. Parts of the municipal area near

Ahrensfelde station Ahrensfelde station is a station serving regional and S-Bahn services in the Berlin borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. It is located on the border of Berlin just outside the municipality of Ahrensfelde, which is in the state of Brandenburg. The sta ...

were overbuilt and finally incorporated into the

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

borough of

Marzahn Marzahn () is a locality within the borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform led to the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf fusing into a single new borough. In the north the Marzahn locality inclu ...

in 1990. The present-day municipality was established by the merger of Ahrensfelde proper with Blumberg, Eiche and Lindeberg on 26 October 2003.

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Ahrensfelde.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 Ahrensfelde.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)

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeindevertretung'') as of the 2008

local election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

: *

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

: 6 * Christian Democratic Union: 5 * The Left: 4 *

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been ...

: 3 *"Citizens' Association Eiche": 2 * Free Democratic Party: 1 *"The Independent": 1

References

Localities in Barnim {{Brandenburg-geo-stub