Eisenhüttenstadt

Eisenhüttenstadt (literally "ironworks city" in German; ) is a town in the Oder-Spree district of the state of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany, on the border with Poland. East Germany founded the city in 1950. It was known as Stalinstadt (Stalinměsto) between 1953 and 1961.
Geography
The municipal area is situated on a sandy terrace in the Berlin-Warsaw glacial valley (Urstromtal). It is bounded by the Oder river and Germany–Poland border to the east. Eisenhüttenstadt is the eastern terminus of the Oder–Spree Canal. The town centre is located about south of Frankfurt (Oder) and southeast of Berlin. Eisenhüttenstadt is served by the Berlin–Wrocław railway line.
The town comprises the districts of Diehlo, Fürstenberg (Oder), and Schönfließ.
History
The town was built near the historic village of Fürstenberg (Oder) which was founded in 1251. In 1319, Fürstenberg became part of the Duchy of Jawor within fragmented Piast-ruled Poland. Later on, it passed to the Kingdom of Bohemia, and Charles IV bought the town from the Cistercians of Neuzelle and allowed the construction of a bridge over the Oder to create a new trade route to Poland. In 1469 it passed to King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, and in 1490 it returned to Bohemia. After the Peace of Prague in 1635, Fürstenberg became part of the Electorate of Saxony. In 1815 it was transferred to Prussia, and in 1871 it became part of the German Empire. In 1925, a port on the Oder was created.
During World War II, the Germans operated the Stalag III-B prisoner-of-war camp for Polish, French, Belgian, Serbian, Soviet, American, Dutch, Italian and British POWs in Fürstenberg with several forced labour subcamps in the town and region, a forced labour camp for Jewish men, and a subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The present-day town was founded as a socialist model city in 1950 (initially named Stalinstadt after Joseph Stalin) following a decision by the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED), alongside a new steel mill combine located west of the historic town of Fürstenberg (Oder). A few years before the new town was established, a bridge over the Oder river had been constructed, the earlier one having been destroyed by retreating Wehrmacht forces in February 1945, near the end of World War II.
The population grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1961, during de-Stalinization, the town was renamed Eisenhüttenstadt. After German reunification in 1990, the state-owned steel works were privatized, and most of its 12,000 employees lost their jobs. Thereafter the factory employed around 2,500 workers. The town experienced a steep decline in population, from just over 50,000 to under 30,000. Consequently, many apartment blocks have now been demolished, although some in the inner city dating from the 1950s have been renovated and restored.
Demography
Architecture
The first design for the new residential quarter was developed by the modernist and Bauhaus architect, Franz Ehrlich, in August 1950. His modernist plan, which laid out a dispersed town landscape along functional lines, was rejected by the Ministry for Reconstruction. The same happened to the plan presented by the architects Kurt Junghanns and Otto Geiler. The plan that was ultimately realized was developed by Kurt Walter Leucht.
Twin towns – sister cities
Eisenhüttenstadt is twinned with:
Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria (1958)
Drancy, France (1963)
Głogów, Poland (1972)
Saarlouis, Germany (1986), first East and West German town twinning
Notable people
Eisenhüttenstadt is the birthplace of:
Udo Beyer (born 1955), shot put, Olympian champion 1976 and holder of world record
Hans-Georg Beyer (born 1956), handball player, olympic winner 1980
Detlef Gerstenberg (1957–1993), hammer thrower, competitor in 1980 Summer Olympics
Frank Schaffer (born 1958), athlete, medal winner in 1980 Summer Olympics
Katharina Bullin (born 1959), volleyball player
Gisela Beyer (born 1960), athlete
Hendrik Reiher (born 1962), rowing cox, medal winner in multiple Olympic Games
Torsten René Gutsche (born 1968), sprint canoer, competitor in two Summer Olympic Games; 1992 winner of the Bambi Award
Sven Helbig (born 1968), producer, musician
Kathrin Boron (born 1969), sculler, competitor in multiple Olympic Games, gold medalist in several World Rowing Championships
Sören Lausberg (born 1969), retired track cyclist, competitor in two Summer Olympic Games
Paul van Dyk (born 1971), DJ, composer and music producer
Katja Adler (born 1974), politician
Amadeus Wallschläger (born 1985), footballer
Roger Kluge (born 1986), racing cyclist, silver medal winner in 2008 Summer Olympics
Florian Müller (born 1986), footballer
Other personalities associated with the city
Bernhard Lösener (1890–1952), jurist
Rudolf Bahro (1935–1997), regime critic and author of the book The alternative. A critique of real-existing socialism., spent his school days in the city
Tamara Bunke (1937–1967), fellow combatant of Che Guevara in Bolivia, took her Abitur (school leaving examination) in Eisenhüttenstadt
Rolf Henrich (born 1944), lawyer, first signatory of the Founding Congress of the New Forum
References
External links
Official municipal website
EKO Stahl AG
The local encyclopedia Wikihüttenstadt
Localities in Oder-Spree
Socialist planned cities
Geography of East Germany
Populated places established in 1950
1950 establishments in East Germany
De-Stalinization