Lübben (Spreewald)


Lübben or Lubin is a town of 14,000 people, capital of the Dahme-Spreewald district; it is in the historical Lower Lusatia region and is in the state of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany.
Lübben is situated in the Spree Forest biosphere reserve region, between the Upper and Lower Spree Forest.
The municipality is part of the Sorbian settlement area; the German and Lower Sorbian languages have equal status.
WWW Official Site

Names

The town is often known simply as Lübben or Lubin in the local languages. The suffix "Spreewald"/"Błota" denotes the Spree Forest. No other town is called Lübben, but several places in Poland are named Lubin. The name can also be rendered in German as Lübben im Spreewald.
The linguist and scholar Arnošt Muka wrote in 1927 that Lubin meant "settlement of the glory-loving" or "peace-loving". Other suggested meanings include "deep place on the Spree" and "belonging to Lubomir". Lübben derives from Lubin. The Spreewald is named after the Spree river, while Błota means "the swamps".
The German name Lübben is similar to that of the neighbouring town, Lübbenau.

Administrative structure

The districts of the town are :
  • Lübben Stadt/Lubin město
  • Hartmannsdorf/Hartmanojce
  • Lubolz/Lubolc
  • * Groß Lubolz/Wjelike Lubolce
  • * Klein Lubolz/Małe Lubolce
  • Neuendorf/Nowa Wjas
  • Radensdorf/Radom
  • Steinkirchen/Kamjena
  • Treppendorf/Ranchow

History

The castle of Lubin in the March of Lusatia was first mentioned in an 1150 register of Nienburg Abbey and had received town privileges according to Magdeburg law by 1220. It was located on a trade route from Luckau to Gubin and Poznań. From 1301 the town in the centre of the Spreewald floodplain was in the possession of the monks of Dobrilugk Abbey, who sold it to Duke Rudolph I of Saxe-Wittenberg in 1329. After several conflicts with the Wittelsbach margraves of Brandenburg the March of Lusatia was finally acquired by Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg in 1367 who incorporated Lübben into the Kingdom of Bohemia. In the 15th century Lübben became the seat of the Bohemian Vogt administrator and the provincial diet of Lower Lusatia.
In 1526 the House of Habsburg inherited the Bohemian kingdom including Lusatia, which in 1623 Ferdinand II of Habsburg had to give in pawn to Elector John [George I, Elector of Saxony|John George I of Saxony]. The Saxon Electorate finally acquired Lübben by signing the 1635 Peace of Prague. After the Napoleonic Wars it fell to the Prussian province of Brandenburg by the final act of the 1815 Congress of Vienna. One of the main escape routes for insurgents of the unsuccessful Polish November Uprising from partitioned Poland to the Great Emigration led through the town.
During World War II, the Oflag III-C and Oflag 8 prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camps] for Polish, French [prisoners of war in World War II|French], British, Australian, New Zealander, Belgian and Dutch officers, a forced labour subcamp of the Nazi prison in Luckau and a subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp were located in the town. Lübben was taken by Soviet troops of the 3rd Guards Army on 27 April 1945.

Politics

The municipal assembly consists of 22 councillors, who were chosen in the municipal elections on 9 June 2024, and the mayor, who votes on all matters just like other members.
Distribution of the seats in the council after the elections:
At the constituent meeting of the city council, Peter Rogalla was elected chairman, his deputies are Andrea Freimann and Inis Schönfelder.
Lübben is twinned with Wolsztyn in Poland and Neunkirchen, Saarland in Germany.

Places of interest

Notable people

Born in Lübben

Related to Lübben