Cottbus
Cottbus (; , ) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with extensive sidings/depots. Although only a small Sorbian minority lives in Cottbus itself, the city is considered as the political and cultural center of the Sorbs in Lower Lusatia. Spelling. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the spelling of the city's name was disputed. In Berlin, the spelling "Kottbus" was preferred, and it is still used for the capital's ("Cottbus Gate"), but locally the traditional spelling  Cottbus (which defies standard German-language rules) was preferred, and it is now used in most circumstances. Because the official spelling used locally before the spelling reforms of 1996 had contravened even the standardized spelling rules already in place, the () stress their urgent recommendation that geographical names should respect the national spelling standards. A citizen of the city may be identified as either a "Cottbuser" or a "Cottbusser". Names in different languages: History. The settlement was established in the tenth century, when Sorbs erected a castle on a sandy island in the River Spree. The first recorded mention of the  town's name was in 1156. In the 13th century German settlers came to the town and thereafter lived side by side with the Sorbs. In the Middle Ages Cottbus was known for wool, and the town's drapery was exported throughout Brandenburg, Bohemia (Czechia) and Saxony. In 1445 Cottbus was acquired by the Margraviate of Brandenburg from Bohemia. In 1514 Jan Rak founded the "Universitas Serborum", a Sorbian gymnasium, in the city. In 1701 the city became part of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was also ruled by Saxony between 1807 and 1813. In 1815 the surrounding district of  Lower Lusatia was ceded by the Kingdom of Saxony to Prussia, and in 1871 it became part of the German Empire. According to the Prussian census of 1905, the city of Cottbus had a population of 46,270, of which 97% were Germans, 2% were Sorbs and 1% were Poles. In interwar Germany, the town was the site of a concentration camp for unwanted Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. During World War II, a Nazi prison for women was operated in the city with multiple forced labour subcamps located both in the city and other places in the region. In the  final weeks of the war, Cottbus was taken by the Red Army on 22 April 1945. In January 1946, Cottbus issued 34 semi-postal postage stamps to help finance rebuilding the city. From 1949 until German reunification in 1990, Cottbus was part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Culture and education. Cottbus is the cultural centre of the Lower Sorbian minority. Many signs in the town are bilingual, and there is a Lower Sorbian-medium "Gymnasium" and a Sorbian Quarter, but Sorbian is rarely spoken on the streets. Next to Cottbus is the famous Branitz Park, created by Prince  Hermann von Pückler-Muskau after 1845. Schloss Branitz (Branitz Castle) was rebuilt by Gottfried Semper in a late Baroque style between 1846 and 1852, and the gardens Prince Hermann laid feature two pyramids. One of these, the Seepyramide, is in the middle of an artificial lake and serves as his mausoleum. Cottbus is also home to the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) and the maths/science-oriented Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium, named after the physicist Max Steenbeck. Every year Cottbus hosts the East Europe International Film Festival. Cottbus has a soccer team, Energie Cottbus, that plays in the Regionalliga Nordost as  of the 2021–2022 season. Their home matches are played at the city's Stadion der Freundschaft. Economy. Transportation. Cottbus is served by Cottbus Hauptbahnhof main railway station. Power generation. There are several lignite-fired power stations in the area around Cottbus (Lausitz) fed through local open pit mining. The biggest stations are "Schwarze Pumpe" (1600 MW), "Boxberg" (1900 MW) and "Jänschwalde" (3000 MW). Some of the open-pit mines have already been shut down with the former being converted into an artificial lake with surface area called Cottbuser Ostsee (Cottbus eastern lake). Twin towns – sister cities. Cottbus is twinned with