From en.wikipedia.org:
{{Infobox German location |type = Stadt |image_coa = Wappen Zossen.png
|image_photo = Zossen Kirche.jpg |image_caption = Church of the Holy Trinity
|coordinates = [52] |image_plan = Zossen in TF.png |state = Brandenburg
|district = Teltow-Fläming |elevation = 38 |area = 180.39 |postal_code = 15806
|area_code = 03377 |licence = TF |Gemeindeschlüssel = 12 0 72 477 |divisions =
7 Orts- und 9 Gemeindeteile |website = [zossen.de] |mayor = Wiebke
Schwarzweller[1] |leader_term = 2019–27 |Bürgermeistertitel = Bürgermeisterin
|party = FDP }} ZOSSEN ([de]; [hsb], [hsb]) is a German town in the district
of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, about [30] south of Berlin, and next to the
B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were
grouped in 2003 to form the city.
** Geography
Since the 2003 municipal reform, Zossen consists of the following districts
and municipalities: {| | valign="top" |
- Glienick
- Horstfelde
- Schünow
- Werben
- Kallinchen
- Nächst Neuendorf
- Nunsdorf
- Schöneiche
| valign="top" |
- Wünsdorf
- Funkenmühle
- Lindenbrück
- Neuhof
- Waldstadt
- Zesch am See
- Zossen
- Dabendorf
|}
** History
Zossen, like many places in Brandenburg, was originally a Slavic settlement.
Its name ([hsb]) may derive from "Sosna", meaning pine, a tree quite common in
the region.
In 1875, Zossen railway station opened on the railway line from Berlin to
Dresden and the Prussian military railway to the artillery range at
Kummersdorf-Gut in present-day Am Mellensee. Between 1901 and 1904, Zossen
adopted the use of various high-speed vehicles, such as electric locomotives
and trams, for transportation to and from Berlin-Marienfelde. These vehicles
were powered by an alternating current of 15 kV and used a variable frequency.
The power was transmitted by three overhead lines arranged one above the
other.
*** Imperial German Army garrison
In 1910, an artillery proving ground and garrison of the Imperial German Army
were established in the Waldstadt section of the Wünsdorf community, a site
that remains in use today. During World War I, it housed several
prisoner-of-war camps, including the "Crescent Camp" (_Halbmondlager_), which
was designated for Muslim soldiers who had fought for the Triple Entente.[2]
Notably, the first mosque in Germany was erected here.<ref name="GMJ1" /> The
mosque's wooden construction, financed by the Prussian Army, featured a
25-meter high minaret that was built in just five weeks in July 1915.<ref
name="GMJ1" /> The camp operated from 1915 until 1917, serving as a showcase
for Germany's war propaganda. It was designed not only to display the
supposed humane treatment of prisoners but also to persuade them to join the
Central Powers' cause. Named after the structure, the adjacent Mosque Street
([de]) has kept its name to this day.[3][4]
*** German Reichswehr complex
The military complex in Wünsdorf continued to be used after the end of the
First World War in 1918. On 1 October 1924, the first German Armed Forces
(_Reichswehr_) military sports courses were initiated at the Imperial
Gymnastics Gymnasium (_Kaiserliche Turnanstalt_) as part of the newly founded
popular sports movement (_Volkssportbewegung_), which ran nationwide until
1933. In 1934, it was converted into the Army Sports School Wünsdorf,
promoting competitive sports in the German _Reichswehr_. For the 1936 Summer
Olympics in Berlin, German athletes were prepared here, while athletes from
other nations were accommodated in the Olympic Village. The first director of
the _Reichswehr_ sports school, from 1919 to 1924, was [Hans Surén], a German
army officer, instructor, sports author, and advocate of the early
_Freikörperkultur_ (naturism) movement in Germany. Additional barracks, a
hospital, and horse stables were later constructed.
*** Underground military bunkers
From 1939 to 1945, during World War II, Wünsdorf served as the largest and
most advanced German army headquarters, housing the Zeppelin signals
intelligence (SIGINT) bunker, as well as the Maybach I and II underground
headquarters of the German Wehrmacht (OKW) and the Army's Supreme High Command
(OKH).
*** Soviet occupation and military base
After World War II, the area became the site of a Soviet military base in East
Germany known as the "House of Officers" or "Lenin City", the largest outside
Russia, accommodating up to 75,000 Soviet men, women, and children with daily
trains to Moscow.<ref name=Guardian>"The Forbidden City: inside the abandoned
Soviet camp of Wünsdorf" (see
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/11/forbidden-city-inside-abandoned-soviet-camp-wunsdorf-east-germany)
, _The Guardian_, Ciarán Fahey, 11 January 2017 Soviet troops remained until
their withdrawal following the German reunification in August 1994. Since
then, the area has returned to civilian use as the Wünsdorf-Waldstadt book and
bunker town, founded in 1998.[5] Although much of it lies abandoned, evidence
of Soviet occupation remains visible.[6] By late 2019, roughly 1,700
apartments had been converted from the old barracks, with another 700 planned
for subsequent years.
A 2017 news report indicates that, at its peak, the military base was home to
approximately 75,000 Soviet people, with access to stores, schools, and
leisure centres. After the base was abandoned, authorities discovered "98,300
rounds of ammunition, 47,000 pieces of ordnance, 29.3 tonnes of munitions and
rubbish, including chemicals... houses were full of domestic appliances".[7]
While new uses have not been found for the installations and bunkers of the
unmodified areas of the military base,<ref name="BBC doco"/> they are somewhat
maintained, and there are various guided tours, exhibits, and events.<ref
name="Bücher- und Bunkerstadt Wünsdorf"/> Some parts remain off-limits.<ref
name=Guardian/>[8][9]
*** Timeline
<!-- much of the following needs to be explained, or at least given a context
-->
- 1809/1810: Kietz and the vineyards of Zossen are suburbanised < !-- what does this mean? -->
- 1885: Monument to the fallen soldiers of the 1864, 1866, and 1870 wars is erected in Kietz
- 1906: School on Kirchplatz is expanded
- 1910: Military area between Zossen and Wünsdorf is developed
- 1915: First mosque built on German soil in the POW camp
- 1919: Reichswehr military sports school
- 1932: Flyers of the town councillor and deacon [Emil Phillip] regarding the threatening change in the Protestant community and the city Zossen
- 1933: As a result of the National Socialists ' rise to power, Socialists and Communists in Zossen are arrested by SS troops and are held in the school on Kirchplatz. Emil Phillip is removed from his post, upon the order of Pastor Eckerts
- 1934: Expansion of the town hall
- 1939: The military zone in Zossen is developed into military headquarters
- 1945: Russian soldiers capture the military headquarters
- 1956: The city park is created
- 1992: The "Alter Krug" Zossen society is founded
- 1994: Formation of the administrative district of Teltow-Fläming from the old districts of Jüterbog , Luckenwalde , and Zossen
- 1996: 450th anniversary of Prince Elector Joachim II 's awarding of rights and privileges to Zossen
- 1998: Wünsdorf Book Town declared, the only book town in Germany <ref name="Bücher- und Bunkerstadt Wünsdorf"/> – though Mühlbeck-Friedersdorf , which started in 1997, claims to be the first book town in Germany. [10]
** Demography
<gallery widths="250" heights="200"> File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung
Zossen.pdf|Population since 1875 within the current borders (blue line:
population; dotted line: normalized population of Brandenburg; grey
background: time of Nazi rule; red background: time of communist rule)
File:Bevölkerungsprognosen Zossen.pdf|Population 2005–2018 (blue lines) and
projections to 2030 (dotted lines) from 2005 (yellow line), 2017 (velvet line)
and 2020 (green line), including census in 2011 </gallery>
{{historical populations |align=none | cols=3 | percentages=pagr |title =
Zossen: Population development <br>within the current boundaries (2017)[11] |
1875 | 7335 | 1890 | 8549 | 1910 | 10611 | 1925 | 13012 | 1933 | 14231 | 1939
| 18173 | 1946 | 17000 | 1950 | 16507 | 1964 | 13834 | 1971 | 13368 | 1981 |
12879 | 1985 | 12795 | 1989 | 12502 | 1990 | 12282 | 1991 | 12241 | 1992 |
12193 | 1993 | 12108 | 1994 | 12441 | 1995 | 13087 | 1996 | 13612 | 1997 |
14289 | 1998 | 15108 | 1999 | 15750 | 2000 | 16310 | 2001 | 16414 | 2002 |
16772 | 2003 | 16958 | 2004 | 17063 | 2005 | 17183 | 2006 | 17321 | 2007 |
17441 | 2008 | 17477 | 2009 | 17590 | 2010 | 17606 | 2011 | 17392 | 2012 |
17465 | 2013 | 17600 | 2014 | 17657 | 2015 | 17905 | 2016 | 18115 | 2017 |
18915 | 2018 | 19403 | 2019 | 19912 | 2020 | 20182 }}
** Mayors
- Hans-Jürgen Lüders (SPD) 1993–2003
- Michaela Schreiber: 2003-2019
- Wiebke Schwarzweller: since 2019
** Notable people
right
- Karl Friedrich August Lehmann (1843–1893), stenographer and inventor of the [Stenotachygraphie] shorthand system
- Frieda Kassen (1895–1970), politician (SPD)
- Walter Budeus (1902–1944), Communist and resistance fighter
- Roy Präger (born 1971), football player
** See also
- Großer Wünsdorfer See
- List of Soviet military sites in Germany
** References
[Reflist]
** External links
[Commons category]
- Zossen Home page (see http://www.zossen.de/) — in German only
[Cities and towns in Teltow-Fläming (district)]
[Authority control]
Category:Localities in Teltow-Fläming Category:Teltow (region)
Category:Military facilities of the Soviet Union in Germany Category:Military
installations established in 1910 Category:Military installations closed in
1994