650 years of Brandenburg: fixed parades and hymns for the anniversary!

650 years of Brandenburg: fixed parades and hymns for the anniversary!

Potsdam-Mittelmark, Deutschland - In 2025 marks the first documentary mention of 31 locations in Potsdam-Mittelmark for the 650th time. These cities and villages, including Michendorf, Elsholz, Wildenbruch, Seddin, Kemnitz and Kleinmachnow, celebrate this remarkable anniversary with a variety of events. Fixed parades, services, fire brigade competitions and exhibitions are just a few of the highlights that take place as part of these celebrations. Stage programs are also offered and numerous places have created hymns for the celebration. A remarkable example is Hennigsdorf, whose anthem addresses both the past and the future.

The first documentary mention of the places mentioned was in 1375 by Emperor Charles IV in Landbuch documented. This significant document served the comprehensive recording of income and taxes in the region and is still an important source for regional history. It comprises over 700 villages within the Mark Brandenburg, although many of them are expected to be older because there are no older, authentic sources. An extract of the land register is exhibited in the Brandenburg Museum in Potsdam, which underlines its historical value.

the historical context

in 1375 Charles IV bought the Mark Brandenburg for 500,000 guilders from Wittelsbacher Otto V. For Charles IV. However, this was not unproblematic, since the Brandenburg stands were suspicious of the sovereignty and did not want to be regarded as a game ball in the power structure of the Roman-German Empire.

The Landbuch was considered an important statistical recording of the Middle Ages and provides valuable insight into aspects, economic standards as well as social and state structures. There is former information about many towns that are first mentioned here. The main part of the land register is based on the files of the chamber administration and was created by margravial writers as well as district riders and birds.

The relevance of the land register

The land register is considered the first comprehensive statistical recording in the area of ​​the Mark Brandenburg. The creation began in 1371 in the context of a conflict between Charles IV and Otto V. In order to promote an orderly state administration, the landbook was commissioned based on role models from other Bohemian areas and did not serve for practical use on site.

History has a great interest in this document, whose manuscripts, which are in the secret state archive of the Prussian cultural property Foundation, are still being researched today. The contents of the land book were published several times in various editions, with the last in 1940 considered a philological-critical preparation.