Seelow

Seelow
Town
Seelow Town Hall
Coat of arms
Location of Seelow within Märkisch-Oderland district
Seelow Show map of Germany Seelow Show map of Brandenburg
Coordinates: 52°31′00″N 14°22′59″E
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Märkisch-Oderland
Government
• Mayor (2023–31)	Robert Nitz[1]
Area
• Total	25.28 km^2 (9.76 sq mi)
Elevation	52 m (171 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	5,628
• Density	220/km^2 (580/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	15306
Dialling codes	03346
Vehicle registration	MOL, FRW, SEE, SRB
Website	Official website

Seelow (German pronunciation: [ˈzeːloː] ^ⓘ) is a German town, seat of the Märkisch-Oderland, a district of Brandenburg. As of 2013 its population was of 5,464.

Geography

It is situated in the extreme east of Germany, 70 km (40 miles) east of Berlin, 16 km (10 miles) west of the border with Poland.

History

Church in Seelow

The village appears in the records held in 1252 by Archbishop Wilbrand of Magdeburg. At that time, listed as Villa Zelou, it was included in the property of the formerly Polish Bishopric of Lebus (Lubusz Land), contested between the Magdeburg archbishops and the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg.

Seelow suffered damaging town fires in 1630, 1788 and again in 1809.

From 1816 Seelow was included for administrative purposes in the Lebus district [de], a subdivision of the Frankfurt Region within the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. In 1863 the district council office was relocated to Seelow and in 1950 "Lebus district" was renamed "Seelow district"; following frontier changes agreed with the Soviet Union in 1945, the town of Lebus itself had lost to Poland much of the agricultural area that had traditionally supported it. Between 1952 and 1993, Seelow was the administrative centre for the eponymous district [de] within the larger Frankfurt territory.

Seelow was the location of one of the last major pitched battles in Europe during the Second World War - the Battle of the Seelow Heights. In this battle, from 16 to 19 April 1945, Soviet troops under Marshal Zhukov opened the way to Berlin. By the time the slaughter was over the town was largely destroyed, primarily through a major air attack which took place on 17 April 1945, and which was followed by extensive burning and plunder.

Cultural references

Because of its importance in the Second World War, Seelow is today featured in many video games, books and films. Seelow is a playable map in the popular video game Call of Duty: World at War. The Battle of the Seelow Heights is featured extensively in Men of War. The planet Тзаэло (Tzaelow) in the Warhammer 40,000 universe is a likely reference to the town of Seelow, particularly the way that the battle is fought^{[citation needed]}.

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

Seelow: Population development
within the current boundaries (2020)^[3]

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1875 5,736 —     1890 5,205 −0.65% 1910 4,492 −0.73% 1925 4,754 +0.38% 1939 4,420 −0.52% 1950 4,667 +0.50% 1964 5,652 +1.38%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1971 5,804 +0.38% 1981 6,304 +0.83% 1985 6,457 +0.60% 1990 6,231 −0.71% 1995 5,829 −1.32% 2000 6,082 +0.85% 2005 5,776 −1.03%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2010 5,540 −0.83% 2015 5,387 −0.56% 2016 5,451 +1.19% 2017 5,415 −0.66% 2018 5,426 +0.20% 2019 5,422 −0.07% 2020 5,394 −0.52%

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Seelow is twinned with:^[4]

• Moers, Germany (1990)
• Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Poland (1998)
• Międzychód, Poland (1998)
• Nangis, France (1998)

See also

• Seelow Heights
• Battle of the Seelow Heights

References

1. Landkreis Märkisch-Oderland Wahl der Bürgermeisterin / des Bürgermeisters. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
2. "Bevölkerungsentwicklung und Bevölkerungsstandim Land Brandenburg Dezember 2022" (PDF). Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). June 2023.
3. Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.Population Projection Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons
4. "Städtepartnerschaften". seelow.de (in German). Seelow. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

External links

Media related to Seelow at Wikimedia Commons