Lübben (Spreewald)

Lübben (Spreewald) (German pronunciation: [ˈlʏbn̩] ^ⓘ; Lower Sorbian: Lubin (Błota); Polish: Lubin) is a town of 14,000 people, capital of the Dahme-Spreewald district in the Lower Lusatia region in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany.

Lübben Lubin
Town
Lübben Castle
Coat of arms
Location of Lübben within Dahme-Spreewald district
Lübben Show map of Germany Lübben Show map of Brandenburg
Coordinates: 51°57′N 13°54′E
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Dahme-Spreewald
Subdivisions	6 Ortsteile bzw. Stadtbezirke
Government
• Mayor (2022–30)	Jens Richter[1] (CDU)
Area
• Total	120.85 km2 (46.66 sq mi)
Elevation	50 m (160 ft)
Population  (2023-12-31)[2]
• Total	14,030
• Density	120/km2 (300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	15907
Dialling codes	03546
Vehicle registration	LDS
Website	www.luebben.de

Administrative structure

Districts of the town are:

• Lübben Stadt (Lower Sorbian: Lubin město)
• Hartmannsdorf (Hartmanojce)
• Lubolz (Lubolc)
  • Groß Lubolz (Wjelike Lubolce)
  • Klein Lubolz (Małe Lubolce)
• Neuendorf (Nowa Wjas)
• Radensdorf (Radom; Radowašojce)
• Steinkirchen (Kamjena)
• Treppendorf (Ranchow)

History

Nieder-Lausitzische Wendische Grammatica, a Lower Sorbian language learning book, published in the town in 1761

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.^[3] 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 (Landtag) 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 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.^[4]

During World War II, the Oflag III-C and Oflag 8 prisoner-of-war camps for Polish, 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.^[5][6][7] Lübben was taken by Soviet troops of the 3rd Guards Army on 27 April 1945.

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 2020-2030 (green line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)

Lübben (Spreewald): Population development
within the current boundaries (2017)^[8]

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1875 9,168 —     1890 10,140 +0.67% 1910 12,370 +1.00% 1925 11,992 −0.21% 1933 12,018 +0.03% 1939 12,337 +0.44% 1946 12,726 +0.44% 1950 12,245 −0.96% 1964 14,717 +1.32% 1971 15,274 +0.53% 1981 15,727 +0.29% 1985 15,829 +0.16% 1989 15,712 −0.19% 1990 15,495 −1.38% 1991 15,257 −1.54%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1992 15,262 +0.03% 1993 15,139 −0.81% 1994 15,202 +0.42% 1995 15,091 −0.73% 1996 15,070 −0.14% 1997 15,054 −0.11% 1998 14,998 −0.37% 1999 15,095 +0.65% 2000 15,025 −0.46% 2001 14,845 −1.20% 2002 14,897 +0.35% 2003 14,807 −0.60% 2004 14,751 −0.38% 2005 14,627 −0.84% 2006 14,557 −0.48%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2007 14,346 −1.45% 2008 14,250 −0.67% 2009 14,179 −0.50% 2010 14,122 −0.40% 2011 13,869 −1.79% 2012 13,815 −0.39% 2013 13,707 −0.78% 2014 13,672 −0.26% 2015 13,824 +1.11% 2016 13,861 +0.27% 2017 13,964 +0.74% 2018 14,024 +0.43% 2019 14,022 −0.01% 2020 14,036 +0.10%

Politics

The municipal assembly (Stadtverordnetenversammlung) 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^[9]:

Parties and voter communities		% 2024	Seats 2024		% 2019	Seats 2019	% 2014	Seats 2014	% 2008	Seats 2008
Pro Lübben	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	23,0	5		24,0	5	22,6	5	15,8	4
CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	18,9	4		22,9	5	27,3	6	29,5	6
AfD	Alternative for Germany	18,7	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
Bürgerinitiative „Unser Lübben“	Citizens' Initiative "Our Lübben"	12,0	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany	11,8	2		13,4	3	21,1	5	23,6	5
Wählergemeinschaft diestadtfraktion Lübben	The city faction voters' group of Lübben	7,7	2		20,1	4	-	-	-	-
Linke	Die Linke	4,8	1		11,4	3	14,4	3	23,8	5
GREENS	Bündnis 90/Die Grünen	3,2	1		7,0	2	4,9	1	2,1	-
Einzelbewerber Sven Gratzias	Sven Gratzias (Independent)	-	-		1,1	-	-	-	-	-
Bürgerverein „wir-von-hier“	Citizens' Association "We're from here"	-	-		-	8,1	2	-	-	-
FDP	Free Democratic Party (Germany)	-	-		-	-	-	-	5,2	1
Total		100.0	37		100.0	37	100.0	37	100.0	37
Voter turnout in %		64,5		56,2		46,1		48,8

At the constituent meeting of the city council, Peter Rogalla (diestadtfraktion) was elected chairman, his deputies are Andrea Freimann (Pro Lübben) and Inis Schönfelder (CDU).^[10]

Lübben is twinned with Wolsztyn in Poland and Neunkirchen, Saarland in Germany.

Neuhaus Manor

Places of interest

• Spreewald biosphere reserve
• Lübben Castle, on medieval foundations, rebuilt in the 17th century under the rule of Duke Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg
• Neuhaus Manor in Steinkirchen, built in 1801, former residence of author Christoph Ernst von Houwald from 1822 on
• Romanesque St Pancras fieldstone church in Steinkirchen built in the early 13th century, one of the oldest preserved churches in Lower Lusatia
• Paul Gerhardt Church from the 16th century, where Paul Gerhardt preached from 1669 on
• Roman Catholic Trinity Church, built in 1862

Notable people

Born in Lübben

• Hans Peter Bull (born 1936), German constitutional lawyer and jurist
• Karin Büttner-Janz (born 1952 in Hartmannsdorf), German Olympic medal winner in artistic gymnastics and habilitated doctor
• Henry Eugene Fritz (1875–1956), American painter
• Hans Walter Gruhle (1880–1958), German psychiatrist
• Benno Hann von Weyhern (1808–1890), Prussian General of the Cavalry
• Louis Klopsch (1852–1910), American author and editor of the Christian Herald
• Sylvio Kroll (born 1965), German Olympic medal winner in artistic gymnastics
• Kornelia Kunisch (born 1959), German handball player, 1980 Olympic bronze medal with the East German team
• Christian Lillinger (born 1984), German musician and composer
• Karl Otto von Manteuffel (1806-1879), German politician, Prussian agriculture minister
• Otto Theodor von Manteuffel (1805–1882), German politician, Minister-President of Prussia
• Rudolf Marloth (1855–1931), South African botanist, pharmacist and analytical chemist
• Ella Mensch (1859–1935), German writer, journalist, teacher, feminist and editor
• Richard Constantin Noschke (1867–1945), diary of his World War I Alexandra Palace internment sufferings in Imperial War Museum, London.
• Benjamin Raschke (born 1982), German politician, member of the Landtag of Brandenburg
• Thorsten Rund (born 1976), German cyclist
• Kathrin Schneider (born 1962), German politician
• Carl Siegemund Schönebeck (1758–1806), German composer and cellist
• Lavinia Schulz (1896–1924), German dancer and actress
• Ingo Spelly (born 1966), East German-German sprint canoer, Olympic champion

Related to Lübben

• Wolfgang Figulus (c. 1525 – c. 1591), German composer and teacher, 1545 or 1546 cantor in Lübben
• Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676), German hymn writer, 1668 till his death archdeacon of Lübben
• Renate Holm (1931–2022), German-Austrian film actress and operatic soprano, school in Lübben
• Christoph Ernst von Houwald (1778–1845), German dramatist and author, died at Neuhaus
• Götz von Houwald (1913–2001), German diplomat, historian and ethnographer, completed his secondary education in Lübben
• Albert Naumann (1875–1952), German fencer, died in Lübben
• Jens Riewa (born 1963), German television presenter and broadcast news analyst for the Tagesschau, grew up in Lübben
• Immanuel Johann Gerhard Scheller (1735–1803), German classical philologist and lexicographer, teacher in Lübben
• Daniel Ziebig (born 1983), German footballer, used to live in Lübben
• We Butter the Bread with Butter, German deathcore band formed in 2007