Storkow (Mark) is a town in

Oder-Spree Oder-Spree is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the eastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are (from north clockwise) the district Märkisch-Oderland, the district-free city Frankfurt (Oder), Poland, the districts Spree-Neiße and Dahme-Spreewal ...

district, in

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 ...

. The town was the part of Brandenberg Province of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, from 1815 - 1947, then it was the part of the State of

from 1947 to 1952, Bezirk Frankfurt of

East Germany 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 ...

from 1952 to 1990 and it again became a part of the State of

since 1990.

Geography

Storkow is situated in the western part of Oder-Spree district, about southwest of Fürstenwalde. The municipal area comprises several lakes of the Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park; in the south, the Spreewald biosphere reserve stretches into

Lower Lusatia Lower Lusatia (; ; ; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the Germany, German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the south, Lower Lusa ...

Division of the town

The following villages of the former '' Amt'' Storkow were incorporated into the present municipality with effect from 26 October 2003: The municipalities of Alt Stahnsdorf, Limsdorf, Schwerin, Wochowsee had merged with the town of Storkow on 31 March 2002. Storkow proper already included the hamlets of Karlslust, Neu Boston and Wolfswinkel. The villages of Philadelphia and Neu Boston were named after their American counterparts by

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

in 1772.

History

The town of Storkow was first mentioned in a 1209 deed issued by Emperor

Otto IV Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218. Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...

; it thereby is one of the oldest towns in Brandenburg. In early medieval times, the area was settled by

Polabian Slavs Polabian Slavs, also known as Elbe Slavs and more broadly as Wends, is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites, Lechitic (West Slavs, West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germany. The ...

, it was incorporated by the

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

margrave

Gero Gero I ( 900 – 20 May 965), sometimes called the Great (),Thompson, 486. Also se was a nobleman from East Francia who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he ...

in his vast ''

marca Geronis The ''Marca Geronis'' or March of Gero was a vast marches, super-march in the middle of the tenth century. It was probably created for Thietmar, Margrave of Merseburg, Thietmar in the 920s and passed consecutively to his two sons, Siegfried, Margra ...

'' and by 965 formed part of the Imperial

March of Lusatia The March or Margraviate of Lusatia () was an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast ''Marca Geronis''. Ruled by several Saxon margravial dy ...

(or

Saxon Eastern March The Saxon Eastern March () was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" stems from the Latin term ''marchia Orientalis'' and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern fr ...

). During the German ''

Ostsiedlung (, ) is the term for the Early Middle Ages, early medieval and High Middle Ages, high medieval migration of Germanic peoples and Germanisation of the areas populated by Slavs, Slavic, Balts, Baltic and Uralic languages, Uralic peoples; the ...

'' migration, maybe under the rule of the Wettin margrave Conrad the Great in the mid 12th century, Storkow Castle was erected. It probably arose at the site of a former Slavic marsh fortress and served as administrative seat of Wettin '' ministeriales'' ruling over the extended Lusatian lordship (''

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

'') of Storkow. With

, Storkow passed to the

Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval and early modern periods with feudalism, feudal obligations to the List of Bohemian monarchs, Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted o ...

in 1367; it was located near the northern border with the

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 ...

. From 1518, Storkow Castle was pawned to the Bishops of Lebus as an episcopal residence. Upon the death of the last Catholic bishop in 1555, it was presented as a gift to the

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

margrave John of Brandenburg-Küstrin by King Ferdinand I of Bohemia and, together with neighbouring

Beeskow Beeskow (; , ;) is a town in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany, and capital of the Oder-Spree district. It is situated on the river Spree (river), Spree, 30 km southwest of Frankfurt an der Oder. History In 1518 the town was purchased by the Di ...

, finally merged into the Brandenburg electorate upon John's death in 1571.

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 ...

was spoken by a significant proportion of the population until the early 17th century. Devastated 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 ...

, Storkow Castle was rebuilt in a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

style under the rule of the "Great Elector"

Frederick William The name Frederick William usually refers to several monarchs and princes of the Hohenzollern dynasty: * Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (1620–1688) * Frederick William, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1675–1713) * Frederick William I of ...

. The town became part of the newly established

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in 1701. King

decisively promoted the local trade of weavers, bleachers and dyers. From 1815 to 1947, Storkow was part of the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

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

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 ...

, Storkow was incorporated into the State of

from 1947 to 1952 and the Bezirk Frankfurt of

from 1952 to 1990. Since 1990 Storkow is again part of Brandenburg. In January, 1946, Storkow issued 16 postage stamps of its own, the final two semi-postals to raise funds for "victims of fascism." Storkow Castle was destroyed by a blaze in 1978; it was rebuilt after

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 ...

and today is a listed monument.

Demography

File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Storkow.pdf, Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population development in Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

; Red Background: Time of communist

) File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Storkow.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 (, ) 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 2017-2030 (scarlet line); for 2020-2030 (green line)

Politics

Seats in the town's assembly (''Stadtverordnetenversammlung'') as of 2014 local elections: *

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): 4 *

Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

: 4 *''Wählergruppe Neues Storkow'' (

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

): 3 * The Left: 2 * Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 2 *

National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...

(NPD): 1 *Johann Kney: 1 *''Haus und Grund e.V.'': 1

Twin towns — sister cities

Storkow is twinned with: *

Opalenica Opalenica is a town in Nowy Tomyśl County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 9,262 inhabitants (as of 2024). History The Opaliński noble family originated here as lords of the area and a branch of the Bniński family of Łodzia coat of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, since 2003

External links

Municipal site

References

{{Authority control Localities in Oder-Spree