Neubrandenburg

Neubrandenburg (IPA: [nɔʏˈbʁandn̩bʊʁk] ^ⓘ, Low German Niegenbramborg, both lit. New Brandenburg) is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban centre of the Mecklenburg Lakeland.

The city is famous for its rich medieval heritage of Brick Gothic architecture, including the world's best preserved defensive wall of this style as well as a Concert Church (Saint Mary), the home venue of the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic. It is part of the European Route of Brick Gothic, a route which leads through seven countries along the Baltic Sea coast. Neubrandenburg is nicknamed for its four medieval city gates - Stadt der Vier Tore ("City of Four Gates").

Since 2011, Neubrandenburg has been the capital of the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district. It is the third-largest city and one of the main urban centres of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The city is an economical node of northeastern Germany, featuring one of the highest national ranks in employment density and GDP per capita. The closest greater urban areas are the regiopolis of Rostock and the metropolises of Szczecin, Berlin and Hamburg. Since 1991, Neubrandenburg has hosted a University of Applied Sciences that offers international exchanges, guest programs and study programs.

The region had been left largely empty during the Migration Period and was re-settled by Slavs who then formed the Veleti, starting in the 7th century. Frankish and Saxon influence increased since the late 8th century but suffered several setbacks. After final subjugation by the Saxons in the mid-12th century, German colonisation greatly intensified after 1200. The first Christian monks in the area were Premonstratensians at Broda Abbey, a monastery by the lakeshore (about 1240). The foundation of the city known as of Neubrandenburg took place in 1248, when the Margrave of Brandenburg decided to build a settlement in the northern part of his fief, naming it after the older city of Brandenburg further south. In 1292, the city and the surrounding area became part of Mecklenburg.

The city flourished as a trade centre until the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), when this position was lost due to incessant warfare. During the dramatic advance of the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus into Germany, the city was garrisoned by Swedes, but it was retaken by Imperial Catholic League forces in 1631. During this campaign, it was widely reported that the Catholic forces killed many of the Swedish and Scottish soldiers while they were surrendering. Later, according to the Scottish soldier of fortune Robert Munro, 18th Baron of Foulis, when the Swedes themselves adopted a "no prisoners" policy, they would cut short any pleas for mercy with the cry of "New Brandenburg!". The city, therefore, played an unconscious role in the escalation of brutality of one of history's most brutal wars.

Neubrandenburg was one of two Vorderstädte (lit. primary cities) of the duchy of Mecklenburg, i.e. it represented the interests of the cities and towns at the regional assembly (the Landtag or diet). From 1701 to 1934, it formed a part of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a small, primarily rural, and socio-economically backward state of northeastern Germany, being its largest or second-largest city (closely tied with Neustrelitz, the capital). From 1856 to 1863, Fritz Reuter, the most successful author of Low German literature and one of the best-sold German authors of the 19th century, lived here. In 1864, Neubrandenburg was connected to Berlin by railway, and developed some modest industry, mostly connected with the needs of the predominant agricultural sector of the region.

Under Nazism, an airbase was built at nearby Trollenhagen and a facility for torpedo trials was established in Lake Tollense. The city's rural situation far from any borders shielded it from air attacks for some time. During the Second World War, two German prisoner-of-war camps for Allied POWs of various nationalities were located in Fünfeichen within the city limits: the large Stalag II-A and the adjacent Oflag II-E/67 for officers. The same site was operated from 1945 to 1948 as special NKVD-camp Nr. 9. The town was also the location of a forced labour camp for Sinti and Romani people. In 1945, a few days before the end of the Second World War, 80% of the old town was burned down by the Red Army in a great fire that destroyed, inter alia, City Hall (incl. most of the Municipal Archives), the Grand Ducal Palace (incl. the Municipal Arts Collections) and St. Mary's Church. About 600 people committed suicide in fear of or as a result of the Soviet advance.

After the war, within the newly-founded Socialist GDR (East Germany), the city centre was slowly rebuilt in the 1950s and 60s in a simplified neoclassicist and neo-Renaissance style. Large numbers of refugees from Germany's former eastern territories and from Czechoslovakia were resettled in the city. Neubrandenburg was designated the centre of a Bezirk, the highest tier of administrative divisions in East Germany, in 1952. As such, the city was supposed to embody the vision of a "Socialist city" and was to be greatly expanded and industrialised. Population increased from about 20,000 at war's end to about 90,000 in the late 1980s. Large panel-type housing estates were built in several parts of the city. The demolished market square area was reshaped by the Haus der Kultur und Bildung (House of Culture and Education), a Socialist-style civic centre, complemented by a 56 m highrise. Brigitte Reimann, a prominent GDR writer whose works deal with the attempt at building a Socialist society, spent her last years (1968-1973) in the city.