Fürstenwalde

The town is situated in the glacial valley (Urstromtal) of the Spree river north of the Rauen Hills, about 60 km (37 mi) east of Berlin and 30 km (19 mi) west of Frankfurt (Oder). The district capital Beeskow is about 25 km (16 mi) to the southeast. In the north, the municipal area comprises the village of Trebus. The town is located on the western part of historic Lubusz Land (Land Lebus).

The Fürstenwalde station is a stop on the railway line from Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder), the former Lower Silesian-Marcher Railway. It also has access to the parallel Bundesautobahn 12. The 39 MW Fürstenwalde Solar Park supplies electricity to the local grid.

The settlement of Fürstenwalde in the Margraviate of Brandenburg was first mentioned in a 1272 deed, founded in the course of the German Ostsiedlung migration at a ford across the Spree river, probably near the site of a former Slavic settlement. The Lebus Land had been acquired from Poland by the Ascanian margraves in 1248/1249. The town's importance rose as a staple port and terminal of the transportation of goods on the river.

In 1373 Emperor Charles IV, since 1367 also Margrave of adjacent Lower Lusatia campaigned the Brandenburg lands and enforced the renunciation of the Wittelsbach margrave Otto VII of Brandenburg by the Treaty of Fürstenwalde. As also the collegiate church in Lebus was destroyed, Bishop Wenceslaus moved the official seat of the Bishopric of Lebus to Fürstenwalde, where the St Mary's Church was raised to a cathedral.

The last Catholic bishop was Georg von Blumenthal (1490–1550), who was besieged in his palace by Lutheran robbers led by Nickel von Minckwitz. The Bishop had to escape through a window in disguise. The bishopric was secularized during the Reformation in 1555, and was completely disbanded at the ascension of Joachim Frederick as Margrave of Brandenburg in 1598.

From 1815 to 1947, Fürstenwalde was part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, 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.

• 
  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)
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  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)

Seats in the town's assembly (Stadtverordnetenversammlung) as of 2014 local elections:

• The Left: 7
• Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU): 6
• Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): 6
• Free Voters (BFZ): 5
• Free Democratic Party (FDP): 3
• Alternative for Germany (AfD): 2
• Alliance 90/The Greens: 2
• Pirate Party Germany: 1

Fürstenwalde is twinned with:[5]

• Choszczno, Poland
• Reinheim, Germany
• Sulechów, Poland

Julius Pintsch

• Karl Friedrich Schulz (1784–1850), Protestant composer and music teacher
• Julius Pintsch (1815–1884), founder of the former industrial company Julius Pintsch AG Berlin-Fürstenwalde
• Ernst Laas (1837–1885), pedagogue and philosopher
• Max Valentin (1875–1920), sculptor and architect
• Wilhelm Burgdorf (1895–1945), general of the infantry
• Wolfgang Götze (born 1937), theoretical physicist
• Hans-Michael Rehberg (1938–2017), actor and film director
• Ludolf von Wartenberg (born 1941), politician, member of Bundestag
• Helmut Panke (born 1946), manager
• Burkhard Reich (born 1964), footballer
• Axel Schulz (born 1968), boxer

• Media related to Fürstenwalde/Spree at Wikimedia Commons
• "Fürstenwalde" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
• Official website (in German)
• History of Fürstenwalde (in German)