Schönefeld (, meaning ''beautiful field'') is a suburban municipality in the

Dahme-Spreewald Dahme-Spreewald (, ) is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the districts of Oder-Spree, Spree-Neiße, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Elbe-Elster and Teltow-Fläming, and by the city of Berlin. History Th ...

district,

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 borders the southeastern districts 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 ...

. The municipal area encompasses the old

Berlin Schönefeld Airport Berlin Schönefeld Airport () was the secondary international airport of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It was located southeast of Berlin near the town of Schönefeld in the state of Brandenburg and bordered Berlin's southern boundary. It w ...

(SXF) and the new

Berlin Brandenburg Airport Berlin Brandenburg Airport () () is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the Germany, German capital and state of Berlin, in the state of Brandenburg. Named after the former Mayor of West Berlin, West Berlin mayor and Chance ...

(BER).

Geography

It is located about southeast of the Berlin city centre, next to Berlin's only airport,

(BER). In the north, Schönefeld adjoins to the Berlin

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

Tempelhof-Schöneberg Tempelhof-Schöneberg () is the seventh borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Tempelhof and Schöneberg. Situated in the south of the city it shares borders with the boroughs of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in ...

Neukölln Neukölln (), officially abbreviated Neuk, is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located south-east of Berlin's center and stretches from the inner city southward to the border with Brandenburg, encompassing the eponymous quarter of Neu ...

, and

Treptow-Köpenick Treptow-Köpenick () is the ninth Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick. The borough was formerly part of East Berlin. Overview Among ...

with the localities of Lichtenrade, Gropiusstadt, Buckow, Rudow, Altglienicke, and Bohnsdorf. In the south, it borders

Mittenwalde Mittenwalde () is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 30 km southeast of Berlin (centre). On May 28, 1562, the town of Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders, a debt which has never been repaid, tho ...

, in the west, Blankenfelde-Mahlow and in the east, Schulzendorf and Zeuthen.

Civil parishes

The Schönefeld municipal area comprises six

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''Ortsteile''), former municipalities in their own right which were incorporated in 2003: *Schönefeld proper * Großziethen * Selchow * Kiekebusch * Waltersdorf * Waßmannsdorf The settlement of Kienberg, part of Waltersdorf, was cleared of residents to permit expansion of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport and is to be developed as a commercial area.

History and monuments

The first preserved mention of Schönefeld in the Mittelmark territory dates back to 1242. ''Sconenfelde'', then a possession held by the Lords of Selchow, is documented in the 1375 ''Landbuch'' (domesday book) of Emperor Charles IV, when he also ruled as

Elector of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Prince-elector, Electors of Margraviate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg during the time when Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the prima ...

. The village church, rebuilt in 1904/05 according to plans designed by

Franz Heinrich Schwechten Franz Heinrich Schwechten (12 August 1841 – 11 August 1924) was one of the most famous German architects of the Wilhelmine era, and contributed to the development of historicist architecture. Life Schwechten was born in Cologne, the son of ...

, includes a large

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

altar. Waltersdorf and Waßmannsdorf also have village churches dating to the first half of the 13th century. From 1933 onwards the

Henschel Henschel & Son () was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons. Georg C ...

aircraft company moved from

Johannisthal Air Field The Johannisthal Air Field, located southeast of central Berlin, between Johannisthal (Berlin), Johannisthal and Adlershof, was Germany, Germany's first commercial airfield. It opened on 26 September 1909, a few weeks after the world's first a ...

to Schönefeld and had three runways laid out next to the village. More than 14,000 warplanes were built at the site until 1945, when the premises were occupied by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. In the Großziethen cemetery is a memorial to 200

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

ers who died during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

used the air field from 1946, one year later the Soviet Military Administration ordered the buildup of a civil air service supplying

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

. Before

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 ...

, Schönefeld shared its borders partly with boroughs of former

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

(present-day Neukölln and Tempelhof-Schöneberg), and so from 1961 to 1990 it was separated from it by the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Schönefeld.pdf, Development of the population since 1875 within the current boundaries (blue line: population; dotted line: comparison to the population development of Brandenburg; grey background: time of Nazi rule; red background: time of communist rule) File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Schönefeld.pdf, Recent population development and projections (population development before the 2011 census (blue line); recent population development according to the

census in Germany A national census in Germany (, ) 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, was the 2011 Europea ...

in 2011 (blue bordered line); official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2020-2030 (green line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

* Schönefeld (bei Berlin) station, opened in 1951 on the Berlin outer ring, is currently served by the

Berlin S-Bahn The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system that services the reigon in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under the name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff are ...

lines S45 and S9 * Berlin Brandenburg Airport railway station beneath the airport Terminal 1 served by S-Bahn, Regional Express "Airport Express" and long distance IC trains, and an S-Bahn station at Waßmannsdorf, between there and the existing Schönefeld station served only by the S-Bahn. * The Schönefled interchange connects the autobahns A13, A113 with its A117 branch-off, and A10 (''Berliner Ring''). *

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...

n B96A and B179

Business

The Airport-Center, an industrial area in Waltersdorf, and

are important sources of revenue for Schönefeld. The head office of Private Wings is located in the General Aviation Terminal (Allgemeine Luftfahrt) on the property of Schönefeld Airport. Before its disestablishment, the

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

airline company Interflug had its head office on the grounds of the airport. Bremenfly also had its head office in Schönefeld.

Politics

Seats in the municipal council (''Gemeinderat''): * ''Alle für Eine'' voters' association: 5 * Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 7 *

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 ...

(SPD): 3 * The Left: 2 * Schönefeld citizens' initiative (BIS): 1 * Pro Schönefeld citizens' association: 4

Twin towns — Sister cities

Schönefeld is twinned with Bayangol, a district of

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

, since 1999.

Education

Primary schools in the municipality: *Astrid-Lindgren-Grundschule Schönefeld *Paul-Maar-Grundschule Großziethen There is a private secondary school, Evangelische Schule Schönefeld.Evangelische Schule Schönefeld – Gymnasium
" Schönefeld. Retrieved on September 13, 2016.

Notable people

* Rosemarie Clausen, theatrical photographer, born in Großziethen in 1907 *

Rudi Dutschke Alfred Willi Rudolf Dutschke (; 7 March 1940 – 24 December 1979) was a German sociologist and political activist who, until severely injured by an assassin in 1968, was a leading charismatic figure within the Socialist Students Union (SDS) in ...

, prominent spokesperson of the German student movement of the 1960s

References

Sources

* Bernd Kuhlmann. ''Schönefeld bei Berlin – 1 Amt, 1 Flughafen und 11 Bahnhöfe''. Berlin: Gesellschaft für Verkehrspolitik und Eisenbahnwesen, 1996.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonefeld Localities in Dahme-Spreewald Teltow (region)