Spremberg (Lower Sorbian: Grodk, pronounced [ˈɡrɔtk]) is a municipality near the Saxon city of Hoyerswerda and is in the Spree-Neiße district of Brandenburg, Germany.

Spremberg
Grodk
Market square
Market square
Flag of Spremberg
Coat of arms of Spremberg
Location of Spremberg within Spree-Neiße district
BurgBriesenDissen-StriesowDöbernDrachhausenDrehnowDrebkauFelixseeForstGroß Schacksdorf-SimmersdorfGubenGuhrowHeinersbrückJämlitz-Klein DübenJänschwaldeKolkwitzNeiße-MalxetalNeuhausenPeitzSchenkendöbernSchmogrow-FehrowSprembergTauerTeichlandTschernitzTurnow-PreilackWelzowWerbenWiesengrund
Spremberg is located in Germany
Spremberg
Spremberg
Spremberg is located in Brandenburg
Spremberg
Spremberg
Coordinates: 51°34′18″N 14°22′46″E / 51.57167°N 14.37944°E / 51.57167; 14.37944
CountryGermany
StateBrandenburg
DistrictSpree-Neiße
Government
 • Mayor (2021–29) Christine Herntier[1] (Ind.)
Area
 • Total202.31 km2 (78.11 sq mi)
Elevation
97 m (318 ft)
Population
 (2022-12-31)[2]
 • Total21,585
 • Density110/km2 (280/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
03130
Dialling codes03563
Vehicle registrationSPN, FOR, GUB, SPB
Websitewww.stadt-spremberg.de

First mentioned in 1301, the town alone has 14,028 inhabitants, and the municipality, including other villages, has 22,456 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2017.

Geography

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Spremberg is situated about 20 km (12 miles) south of Cottbus and 25 km (15 miles) north of Hoyerswerda, on an island and on both banks of the river Spree. Between 1871 and 1918 the town was the geographical centre of the German Empire: today, it is only 25 km (15 miles) from the German-Polish border. On 1 January 2016, the former municipality Hornow-Wadelsdorf became part of Spremberg.

Demography

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Spremberg: Population development
within the current boundaries (2020)[3]
YearPop.±% p.a.
1875 19,546—    
1890 20,239+0.23%
1910 24,472+0.95%
1925 27,178+0.70%
1939 30,989+0.94%
1950 27,879−0.96%
1964 37,222+2.09%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1971 32,635−1.86%
1981 30,565−0.65%
1985 30,739+0.14%
1990 29,665−0.71%
1995 28,935−0.50%
2000 28,160−0.54%
2005 26,416−1.27%
YearPop.±% p.a.
2010 24,373−1.60%
2015 22,232−1.82%
2016 22,750+2.33%
2017 22,456−1.29%
2018 22,175−1.25%
2019 21,998−0.80%
2020 21,749−1.13%

Mayors

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  • Friedrich Nath (1908–1919)
  • Paul Steffen (1920–1931)
  • Richard Buder (1931–1933)
  • Kurt Kaulbars (1933–1945) NSDAP
  • Rudolf Otto (1944–1945) temporary
  • August Scholta (1945–1945) temporary
  • Richard Buder (1945–1946)
  • Willi Lange (1946–1953)
  • Ruth Kartschall (1953–1961)
  • Herbert Köhler (1961–1965)
  • Günter Frenzel (1965–1975)
  • Lothar Barnowski (1975–1975) temporary
  • Hannelore Neumann (1975–1990) SED
  • Egon Wochatz (1990–2002) CDU
  • Klaus-Peter Schulze (2002–2013) CDU
  • Christine Schönherr (2013–2013) temporary, independent
  • Frank Kulik (2014–2014) temporary, independent
  • Christine Herntier (since 2014), independent

Culture

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In 1911 there were Roman Catholic and two Protestant churches and a pilgrimage chapel dating from 1100, there was a ducal chateau built by a son of the elector John George around the end of the 16th century (now used as government offices), and there were classical, technical and commercial schools as well as a hospital.

Schwarze Pumpe

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Schwarze Pumpe (Lower Sorbian: Carna Plumpa) is a district of Spremberg, lying approximately 7 km (5 miles) southwest of Spremberg's town centre on the federal state boundary between Brandenburg to Saxony. It had 1886 inhabitants as of 31 December 2017. A large industrial area extending into Saxony and including the site of a large power plant is known by the same name.

On 26 May 2006, construction work started on the world's first CO
2
-free coal power plant in the Schwarze Pumpe industrial district. The plant is based on a concept called carbon capture and storage, which means that carbon emissions will be captured and compressed to 1500th their original volume, liquefying the gas. It will then be forced 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) below the soil into porous rock where it is believed that it will remain for thousands of years without exacerbating global warming. The project, which has cost some 70 million Euros, was funded entirely by the Swedish company Vattenfall AB and went into service on 9 September 2008. The power plant was a pilot project to serve as a prototype for future full-scale power plants.[4] Vattenfall stopped carbon capture R&D at the plant in 2014 because they found that "its costs and the energy it requires make the technology unviable".[5]

Twin towns – sister cities

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Spremberg is twinned with:[6]

Notable people

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References

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  1. ^ Landkreis Spree-Neiße Wahl der Bürgermeisterin / des Bürgermeisters, accessed 13 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Bevölkerungsentwicklung und Bevölkerungsstandim Land Brandenburg Dezember 2022" (PDF). Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). June 2023.
  3. ^ Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.Population Projection Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons
  4. ^ Germany leads 'clean coal' pilot, BBC News, 3 September 2008
  5. ^ "Vattenfall abandons research on CO2 storage". The Local. 7 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Partnerstädte". spremberg.de (in German). Spremberg. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  7. ^ Pawlowski, Rita (2008). Unsere Frauen stehen ihren Mann: Frauen in der Volkskammer der DDR 1950 bis 1989 : ein biographisches Handbuch [Our Women Stand Their Ground: Women in the People's Chamber of the GDR, 1950 to 1989: a Biographical Handbook] (in German). Berlin: Trafo Verlagsgruppe []. p. 126. ISBN 978-3-89626-652-1. OCLC 277197894.
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