Bad Freienwalde

Bad Freienwalde
Town
St Nicolas Church and town hall
Coat of arms
Location of Bad Freienwalde within Märkisch-Oderland district
Bad Freienwalde Bad Freienwalde
Coordinates: 52°47′08″N 14°01′57″E
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Märkisch-Oderland
Subdivisions	7 Ortsteile
Government
• Mayor (2017–25)	Ralf Lehmann (CDU)
Area
• Total	131.73 km2 (50.86 sq mi)
Highest elevation	158 m (518 ft)
Lowest elevation	10 m (30 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)
• Total	12,360
• Density	94/km2 (240/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC 01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC 02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	16259
Dialling codes	03344
Vehicle registration	MOL, FRW, SEE, SRB
Website	bad-freienwalde.de

Bad Freienwalde is a spa town in the Märkisch-Oderland district in Brandenburg, in north-eastern 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. The municipal area comprises the following villages: Altranft, Altglietzen, Bralitz, Hohensaaten, Hohenwutzen, Neuenhagen and Schiffmühle.

History

Town hall

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).

From 1701, Bad Freienwalde was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, and from 1871 also the German Empire. From 1815 to 1947, it was administratively part of the Province of Brandenburg.

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.

During the final stages of World War II, on 11 March 1945, it was visited by Adolf Hitler in his last visit on the war front. On 16–20 April 1945, fights between the 1st Polish Army and 9th German Army took place in the area, won by the Poles.

From 1947 to 1952 of the State of Brandenburg, from 1952 to 1990 of the Bezirk Frankfurt of East Germany and since 1990 again of Brandenburg.

Notable people

Elisa Radziwill

• Elisabeth Radziwill, (1803−1834), beloved of Prince Wilhelm I of Prussia died at Freienwalde
• Edith Andreae (1883–1952) salonière and sister of Walther Rathenau.
• Alfred Blaschko (1858–1922), dermatologist
• Hilde Jennings (1906-unknown), actress
• Hans Keilson (1909–2011), Dutch psychotherapist, novelist
• Kurt Kretschmann (1914-2007) nature conservationist
• Erwin Wickert (1915-2008), German diplomat
• Ferdinand Friedrich Zimmermann (1898-1967), journalist, publicist and Sturmbannführer
• Volkmar Sigusch (born 1940), sexologist and physician
• Hildegard und Siegfried Schumacher, children's book authors

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 and Projections: Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to the Census in Germany in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line); for 2020-2030 (green line)

Bad Freienwalde (Oder): Population development
within the current boundaries (2020)

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1875 15,003 —     1890 17,076 0.87% 1910 19,016 0.54% 1925 18,825 −0.07% 1939 19,850 0.38% 1950 20,867 0.46% 1964 19,077 −0.64%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1971 18,769 −0.23% 1981 17,455 −0.72% 1985 17,023 −0.62% 1990 16,659 −0.43% 1995 15,624 −1.27% 2000 14,808 −1.07% 2005 13,739 −1.49%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2010 12,788 −1.42% 2015 12,406 −0.60% 2016 12,316 −0.73% 2017 12,327 0.09% 2018 12,365 0.31% 2019 12,304 −0.49% 2020 12,286 −0.15%

International relations

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

Bad Freienwalde is twinned with:

• Bad Pyrmont, Germany
• Międzyrzecz, Poland

External links

Media related to Bad Freienwalde at Wikimedia Commons