Bad Freienwalde

Bad Freienwalde
St Nicolas Church and town hall
Coat of arms
Bad Freienwalde
Location of Bad Freienwalde within Märkisch-Oderland district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Märkisch-Oderland
Government
• Mayor	Ralf Lehmann (Ind.)
Area
• Total	131.73 km2 (50.86 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	12,403
• Density	94/km2 (240/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	16259
Dialling codes	03344
Vehicle registration	MOL, FRW, SEE, SRB

Bad Freienwalde is a spa town in the Märkisch-Oderland district in Brandenburg, Germany.

Geography

The town is situated on the Alte Oder, an old branch of the Oder River at the northwestern rim of the Oderbruch basin and the steep rise of the Barnim Plateau. It is located 15 km (9.3 mi) east of Eberswalde, and 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Berlin, near the border with Poland.

Bad Freienwalde has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church as well as manufactures of furniture and machinery. The neighbouring forests and its medicinal springs make it a favorite summer resort of the inhabitants of Berlin. A new tower commands a fine panoramic view over the Oder valley.

The municipal area comprises the villages of Altranft, Altglietzen, Bralitz, Hohensaaten, Hohenwutzen, Neuenhagen and Schiffmühle.

History

Freienwalde Castle

The settlement of Vrienwalde in the Margraviate of Brandenburg was first mentioned in a 1316 deed and appeared as a town in 1364. From 1618, the Freienwalde manor was directly held by the Brandenburg prince-electors (Kurfürsten).

A mineral spring was discovered in 1683. The alchemist Johann Kunckel brought it to the attention of the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg, who, gout-ridden, arrived in Freienwalde the next year. Recorded by the physician Bernhardus Albinus in 1685, the Kurfürstenquelle became the foundation of Freienwalde's rise as a spa town. Frederick William's son King Frederick I of Prussia had a first maison de plaisance erected by the architect Andreas Schlüter.

The development was further promoted, when in 1799 the small Neoclassical Freienwalde Castle was built according to plans by David Gilly as a summer residence of Princess Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, the widow of King Frederick William II of Prussia. Its park was redesigned by Peter Joseph Lenné in 1822. The industrialist and politician Walther Rathenau acquired the palace in 1909, it was nationalised after his assassination in 1922. Freienwalde achieved the official status of spa town (Bad) in 1925.

Notable people

• Edith Andreae (1883–1952) sister of Walter Rathenau.
• Alfred Blaschko (1858–1922), dermatologist
• Hans Keilson (1909–2011), Dutch psychotherapist, novelist
• Kurt Kretschmann (1914-2007) Nature Conservationist
• Elisabeth Radziwill, beloved of Prince Wilhelm I of Prussia died at Freienwalde on 27 August 1834.
• Volkmar Sigusch (born 1940), sexologist

Demography

• 

  Development of population since 1875 within the current boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to population development of Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi rule; Red Background: Time of Communist rule)

• 

  Recent population development (Blue Line) and projections

Bad Freienwalde (Oder):
Population development within the current boundaries (2013)

Year Population 1875 15 003 1890 17 076 1910 19 016 1925 18 825 1933 18 873 1939 19 850 1946 18 611 1950 20 867 1964 19 077 1971 18 769

Year Population 1981 17 455 1985 17 023 1989 16 963 1990 16 659 1991 16 393 1992 16 126 1993 16 034 1994 15 753 1995 15 624 1996 15 500

Year Population 1997 15 324 1998 15 189 1999 15 058 2000 14 808 2001 14 543 2002 14 360 2003 14 107 2004 13 940 2005 13 739 2006 13 538

Year Population 2007 13 315 2008 13 136 2009 12 964 2010 12 788 2011 12 656 2012 12 491 2013 12 403

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Bad Freienwalde is twinned with:

• Bad Pyrmont, Germany
• Międzyrzecz, Poland

References

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External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons