Köpenick

Köpenick part of the German capital city of Berlin. It is at the meeting place of two rivers, the Dahme and Spree.

It is known for the famous impostor Wilhelm Voigt, the Captain of Köpenick.

Köpenick was an independent town until 1920. It then became a borough of Berlin, with an area of 128 km² (49 sq mi), making it Berlin's largest borough. In 2001, the borough of Köpenick was merged with that of Treptow to create the current borough of Treptow-Köpenick.

Geography

Overview

A lot of Köpenick's area is covered with forests and water, such as the Müggelsee lake.

The Spree connects Köpenick with the Müggelsee and the Berlin city centre. The Oder-Spree Canal links the Dahme, at nearby Schmöckwitz, with the Oder river, at Eisenhüttenstadt, thus providing a navigable connection between Köpenick and the Oder.

There are so many forests and parks in Köpenick is sometimes called the "green lungs" of Berlin. The Müggelberge hills in the south-east of Köpenick reach 115 m (377 ft), making them the highest natural point of Berlin.

Subdivision

Köpenick is divided into 8 zones:

• Altstadt
• Kietzer Vorstadt
• Dammvorstadt
• Köpenick-Nord
  • Siedlung Dammfeld
  • Elsengrund
  • Uhlenhorst
  • Wolfsgarten
• Amtsfeld-Kämmereiheide
  • Salvador-Allende-Viertel
• Köllnische Vorstadt
• Spindlersfeld
• Wendenschloß
  • Siedlung Kietzer Feld

Panorama

Köpenick Altstadt with views of the City Hall (center) and lock (right) from the opposite bank of the Dahme in Spindlersfeld

History

Statue of "Captain" Wilhelm Voigt

For many years Köpenick was an independent town. Its was first mentioned as a stronghold in 1209. This means Köpenick is older than Berlin-Cölln, which was first mentioned in a 1237 deed. For the most part of Köpenick's history, the town was known as Cöpenick.

In 1631, during the Thirty Years' War, the emissaries of George William, Elector of Brandenburg went to Köpenick to meet the approaching army of Gustav Adolph, King of Sweden, to try to stop the devastation of Brandenburg.

In 1906, a shoemaker called Wilhelm Voigt pretended to be a Prussian officer and took over the town hall of Köpenick. A play was made about the event, and later several films and television shows.

Sport

The Stadion An der Alten Försterei is home of the 1. FC Union Berlin football club.

Other websites

Media related to Köpenick at Wikimedia Commons

• (in German) Köpenick official site
• (in German) Köpenick page on www.berlin.de Archived 2008-10-30 at the Wayback Machine