Brake (; ) is the district seat of

Wesermarsch Wesermarsch is a ''Districts of Germany, Kreis'' (district) in the northwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. Neighboring are (from the east clockwise) the districts of Cuxhaven (district), Cuxhaven and Osterholz, the city of Bremen in the state ...

district in northern

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 ...

Geography

Brake lies in the centre of the square formed by

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, Oldenburg and

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

. With its position up from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

on the lower

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

, which can accommodate ocean-going ships, its proximity to

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

en A29 and A27 as well as to Bremen Airport, this

port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

has a favourable infrastructure supporting land, sea, and air travel. Moreover,

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

lines leading to

Nordenham Nordenham () is a town in the Wesermarsch district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser river on the Butjadingen peninsula on the coast of the North Sea. The seaport city of Bremerhaven is locat ...

and Oldenburg/Bremen fill out the city's transport connections. With the Weser tunnel to the north, which was opened to road traffic in January 2004, Brake was given even better connections to the region's Autobahn network. However, since cyclists and

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s may not use the

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

, and since the

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service across the river Weser was cut back after the tunnel's opening, those on

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

s or on foot suffer a distinct disadvantage to their mobility in the region.

History

The term "Brake" first cropped up in the 14th century when an unsealed break in a dike led to flooding in the Harrier area. The actual documentary mention, dating from 25–30 May 1384, says "brake to Harghen (Harrien)". By the 17th century, "Brake" was ever more often being used not simply as the word for the old dikeburst, but as the community's name. From that time come the names Braksiel and Harrierbrake. In 1731, the old ''Fischerhaus'', Brake's oldest maintained house, was built. In 1756 came Brake's first documentary mention as a port city. During the 19th century, Brake became an important industrial centre for

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

, and the port facilities along the Weser were further expanded. In 1814, Brake set up its first council, Amt Brake. In 1835, Brake was declared a

free port A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to ...

. In 1846, the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

was set up to relay shipping news between Bremen and Bremerhaven. In 1848–52 Brake was the first base of the German Imperial Fleet under Admiral

Karl Rudolf Brommy Rear Admiral Karl Rudolf Brommy (changed his name to reflect the English pronunciation of his original name, Bromme) (10 September 1804 – 9 January 1860) was a German naval officer who helped establish the first unified German fleet, the Reic ...

, the first ever commander of a unified German fleet. On 1 May 1856, Brake was raised to city, and furthermore Golzwarden and Hammelwarden were becoming established as communities (from 1913 onwards becoming parts of the City of Brake). In 1861, the river port was brought into operation. In 1873 came Brake's connection to the railway network. In 1892, the pier was built. In 1936 – the

National Socialists Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

had taken power in Germany by this time – the Admiral Brommy Barracks were built for the German Navy. The barracks were not destroyed in World War II, so the buildings could be used as home for refugees from the former Eastern provinces of Germany. In 1960, the Shipping Museum was dedicated. In 1972 the Culture and Sport Centre with its city

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

and great sports hall came into service. In 1974, building began on the District Professional School Centre (''Kreisberufsschulzentrum''), and the communities of Golzwarden and Schmalenfleth were amalgamated into Brake. In 1996, the Admiral Brommy Barracks were closed and most buildings were broke down to get a new area for the harbour expansion. In 2006, Brake celebrated 150 years as a city.

Politics

Three groupings are represented on Brake City Council, the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

/''Unabhängige Wählergemeinschaft'' (non-aligned citizens' coalition) or SDP/UWG, the Christian Democratic Union/ Free Democratic Party or CDU/FDP, and a WGB (''Wählergemeinschaft Brake'' or Brake Voters' Community) faction. The SDP/UWG grouping currently holds the majority of seats. Mayor Uta Maron, herself an independent, became Brake's first woman mayor in May 2000. Seat distribution * SPD: 17 – Factional chairman Dieter Lohstroh * CDU: 9 – Factional chairman Claus Plachetka * FDP: 2 – Factional chairman Gustav Hellmers * WGB: 3 – Factional chairman Walter Erfmann * UWG: 1 – Tede Tedsen * Mayor: 1

Sightseeing

Brake's landmark is the "Telegraph", built in 1846 under the Oldenburg Grand Duke Paul Friedrich August as an integral part of an optical telegraph line between Bremen and Bremerhaven. Since 1960, the headquarters of the Shipping Museum of the Oldenburg Weser ports has housed exhibition pieces of the "Telegraph" on seven floors in all, which stand as a valuable document in the shipping history of Oldenburg's Lower Weser area. Ship portraits, ship models, figureheads, sea charts, nautical instruments, and souvenirs brought from overseas are interesting witnesses to a long bygone time, and bring the epoch of the

windjammer A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts, however rigged. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam during the 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary records t ...

captains back to life. Bits of the Pamir shipwreck recall the time when that ship capsized and sank in a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

. In an old salesman's and shipowner's house built in 1808, right near the "Telegraph", the second part of the Shipping Museum's collection has been housed. Here the visitor will find a complete shipping supply shop from the turn of the 20th century, a sailmaker's workshop, an old shipping company branch office, and Admiral Rudolf Brommy's livingroom. Those interested in shipping and nautical history will find in these two buildings a collection such as is seldom brought together.

Navy

Brake was for a long time an important centre for training the Navy's sailors. At the Admiral Brommy Barracks built in 1936, seamen and junior officers were readied for duty on board ship. After the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, it was primarily here that conscripts in the so-called ''"Heizerberufen"'' ("fireman conscripts") underwent basic training. This applied to ''Verwendungsreihen'' (≈ occupational specialities) 42 (drive system technicians), 43 (electrical technicians), and 44 (ship's operation technicians). In 1996, the whole training operation moved to the newly built Navy Technical School in Parow, which since then has come to include all the Navy's technical units up to ship's safety technicians ( Neustadt) and the Navy Operations School (

). The Admiral Brommy Barracks were torn down in 2000.

Economy

Brake's location on a deepwater waterway such as the Weser was the deciding factor in the town's development and its harbour's competitiveness. The harbour was shaped by its function as a trade centre for traditional bulk cargoes such as

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

s, feed and

manure Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nut ...

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

, as well as general goods such as

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

. Furthermore, trade was further bolstered by project loading, packaged goods and heavy cargo as well as containerized freight, giving the port a further focus of activity. Today, Brake Harbour can handle ships with an 11.90 m draught and up to . In the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

less inner harbour, LASH barges, coasters and inland-going barges are readied for

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an traffic. Barges regularly undertake extensive cargo runs on all Europe's waterways, to and from Brake. it is mainly used by J. Müller. In 2003, roughly 5.27 million tonnes of goods were handled. When barge traffic is counted, this reaches 6.28 million tonnes. In 2004, the harbour, which up to this time had been freely accessible, was completely fenced in owing to international agreements. The north strait was closed to public traffic, and together with the old Navy school lands, added to the harbour area, which may now be entered only by authorized persons. The district seat of Brake, with its roughly 16,300 inhabitants is a lively regional centre and the seat of many authorities. For about 50,000 inhabitants in the commuter area (of 90,000 all together in Wesermarsch district) Brake moreover fulfils all service functions. These include a broad array of

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

services, many public institutions and manifold cultural offerings. As the Wesermarsch

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

hub, Brake has at its disposal all schools of higher learning. These opportunities are fulfilled by the nearby

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and

technical college An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

s in

, Oldenburg and

. For those interested in sports, there are indoor and outdoor swimming pools and tennis courts.

Notable people

Arp Schnitger Arp Schnitger (2 July 164828 July 1719 (buried)) was an influential Northern German organ builder. Considered the paramount manufacturer of his time, Schnitger built or rebuilt over 150 organs. He was primarily active in Northern Europe, especial ...

: (1648–1719), well known

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

builders; received a patent as royally privileged organ builder. *

, (1804–1860),

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

of the first German fleet (''Reichsflotte'' in Brake, 1848–1852). * Eduard Scheve, (DE Wiki), (1836–1909), founder of Evangelical Free Church Deaconry and Foreign * Georg von der Vring, (DE Wiki) (1889–1968), painter and drawing teacher; wrote

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

s and tales; honorary citizen of Brake and buried locally. * Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken (1897–1985), naval officer,

Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

in WWII, ship commander * Gerd Achgelis (1908–1991), aviator, test pilot, helicopter pioneer * Lutz Ackermann, (DE Wiki) (born 1945), journalist, moderator at

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened to NDR (), is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, ...

. * Helmut Debus, (DE Wiki) (born 1949),

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

songwriter; grew up locally * Dimo Wache (born 1973), footballer, played 374 games

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Towns in Lower Saxony Port cities and towns in Germany Wesermarsch