Bischdorf (

Lower Sorbian Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

: ''Wótšowc'') is a village and former municipality in the

Oberspreewald-Lausitz Oberspreewald-Lausitz (, ) is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Dahme-Spreewald, Spree-Neiße, the districts Bautzen and Meissen in Saxony, and the district ...

district of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is located in

Lusatia Lusatia (; ; ; ; ; ), otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, formerly entirely in Germany and today territorially split between Germany and modern-day Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the eas ...

about 90 km (55 mi) south of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Since 26 October 2003, Bischdorf is part of the town

Lübbenau Lübbenau (, ; officially Lübbenau/Spreewald, Lower Sorbian, L.S. Lubnjow/Błota (meaning ''Lübbenau/Spree Forest'') Polish language, Polish: ''Lubniów'') is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Upper Spree Forest-Lusatia District of Brandenbu ...

History

Bischdorf was founded around the year 1200 as an so called

Angerdorf __NOTOC__ An ''Angerdorf'' (plural: ''Angerdörfer'') is a type of village that is characterised by the houses and farmsteads being laid out around a central grassed area, the ''anger'' (from the Old High German ''angar'' =pasture or grassy place ...

and first mentioned in 1415. The German name ''Bischdorf'' derived from the Bishopric of Meissen, by which the village was owned at the time. The Lower Sorbian name ''Wótšowc'' can be translated as ''small island''. After Bischdorf was destroyed during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, it was rebuilt and resettled in 1652. During the 17th and 18th century, Bischdorf was divided into two parts, one of which belonged to

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

. The other part of Bischdorf belonged to the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

. In 1815, the entire village became part of the Prussian

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg () was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1947. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg (excluding Altmark) and ...

. After the construction of the

Lübbenau–Kamenz railway The Lübbenau-Kamenz railway is a single-track main line in the German states of Brandenburg and Saxony, which was originally built and operated by the Berlin-Görlitz Railway Company (). It branches from the Berlin–Görlitz railway in Lübbena ...

in 1874, Bischdorf got a

Freight depot A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports, and ferry slips. F ...

, which was later also used as a railway station. Since 1952, Bischdorf was part of the

Bezirk Cottbus Cottbus was a Administrative divisions of the German Democratic Republic, district () of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The administrative seat and main town was Cottbus. History The district was established, along with the othe ...

in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. In 1960, the mining of

Lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

began. As a result, three buildings inside the village had to be demolished. After the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, Bischdorf became part of the state

. In 1996, the lignite mining ended and the former

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

is turned into a lake. On 1 January 1969, the then municipality Bischdorf annexed the municipality Seese with its district Mlode. In the same year, Seese was destroyed in favor of lignite mining. On 1 June 1987, Mlode regained independence as a municipality, it is now a district of

Calau Calau (, , ) is a small town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It is situated 14 km south of Lübbenau, and 27 km west of Cottbus. Calau is also called the home of the German humour#Commo ...

(since 2003). On 1 January 1987, the

Gemarkung A ''Gemarkung'' (; also ''Markung'', in Switzerland also ''Gemarchen'') is the entirety of all land plots of a specific municipality, or a specific large part of a municipality, recorded in the cadastre in the countries of Germany and Switzerland ...

of the former village Kahnsdorf became part of Bischdorf. Bischdorf itself was annexed by Lübbenau on 26 October 2003. In the 1990s, the village green and the village pond were redesigned and the streets in the village were repaved, and the schoolhouse was developed as a clubhouse. Footpaths were laid out and street lighting was newly installed.

Demographics

References

External links

Populated places in Oberspreewald-Lausitz {{Brandenburg-geo-stub