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{{redirect|Lubusz|the Polish province|Lubusz Voivodeship}}
{{Infobox German location
|type              = Stadt
|name              = Lebus
|image_photo       = Lebus - Unterstadt - panoramio.jpg
|image_caption     = 
|image_coa         = DEU Lebus COA.svg
|coordinates       = {{coord|52|25|00|N|14|31|59|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|image_plan        = Lebus in MOL.png
|state             = Brandenburg
|district          = Märkisch-Oderland
|Amt               = Amt Lebus
|elevation         = 20
|area              = 54.23
|postal_code       = 15326
|area_code         = 033604
|licence           = MOL
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 12 0 64 268
|divisions         = 3 [[Ortsteil]]e
|website           = [http://www.amt-lebus.de/ www.amt-lebus.de]
|mayor             = Ralf-Tore Fabig<ref>[https://wahlen.brandenburg.de/wahlen/de/kommunalwahlen/ergebnisse/buergermeisterwahlen/ergebnisse/~12064000 Landkreis Märkisch-Oderland Wahl der Bürgermeisterin / des Bürgermeisters]. Retrieved 10 July 2024.</ref>
|leader_term       = 2024&ndash;29
}}
'''Lebus''' ({{langx|pl|Lubusz}}) is a historic town in the [[Märkisch-Oderland]] District of [[Brandenburg]], [[Germany]]. It is the administrative seat of ''[[Amt]]'' ("collective municipality") [[Amt Lebus|Lebus]]. The town, located on the west bank of the [[Oder]] river at the border with [[Poland]], was the centre of the historical region known as [[Lubusz Land]], which provides the name for the present-day Polish [[Lubusz Voivodeship]].

==Geography==
[[File:Lebus an der Oder - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|190px|View across the Oder river]]
Lebus is situated in the southeast of Märkisch-Oderland District, on a ridge at the left bank of the middle Oder river, which since the implementation of the [[Oder–Neisse line]] in 1945 marks the eastern German border with Poland. The town centre is located about {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of [[Frankfurt (Oder)]].

The municipal area comprises the localities of Lebus proper, Mallnow, Schönfließ, and Wulkow. [[Schönfließ Dorf station]] is a stop on the [[Eberswalde–Frankfurt (Oder) railway]] line served by the ''[[Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn]]'' carrier.

==History==
Settlement in the Lebus region has been traced as far back as 3,000 years. The ridges provided natural defense and led to fortifications being constructed upon them. The [[Germanic tribes|Germanic]] [[Lombards]] and [[Semnoni]] are believed to have lived in the area before the [[Common Era]]. After the [[Migration Period]], since approximately 7th century AD, the area was inhabited by the [[Slavs|Slavic]] ''Leubuzzi'' tribes, part of the West Slavic [[Veleti]] federation which later were called [[Lutici]] in [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxon]] sources. They were considered to be transitional between the [[Polabian Slavs]] and [[Polans (western)|Polans]] settling in the east. Their lands on both sides of the Oder river became known as ''[[Lubusz Land|Terra Lebusana]]'' ("Land of the Leubuzzi" in [[Latin]], Polish: ''Ziemia Lubuska'').
{{Quote box |width=23em |align=left |bgcolor=#FFAAAA
|title=Historical affiliations
|fontsize=85% |quote=<poem>[[Civitas Schinesghe|Duchy of Poland]] 960s–1025
{{flagicon image|Alex K Kingdom of Poland-flag.svg}} [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Kingdom of Poland]] 1025–1249
{{flagicon image|Wappen Mark Brandenburg.png}} [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] ca. 1250–1373
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Bohemia}} [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]] 1373–1415
{{flagicon image|Wappen Mark Brandenburg.png}} [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] 1415–1618
{{flagicon image|Brandenburg Flag 1657-1701 (new).svg}} [[Brandenburg-Prussia]] 1618–1701
{{flag|Kingdom of Prussia|1803}} 1701–1871
{{flag|German Empire}} 1871–1918
{{flag|Weimar Republic}} 1918–1933
{{flag|Nazi Germany}} 1933–1945
{{flag|Allied-occupied Germany}} 1945–1949
{{flag|East Germany}} 1949–1990
{{flag|Germany}} 1990–present</poem>
}}
The region was under [[History of Poland during the Piast dynasty|Polish]] control by 966 under the rule of the [[Piast]] duke [[Mieszko I]] and his son [[Bolesław I the Brave]]. The settlement itself was mentioned as a town ''Liubusua'' and ''Libusua urbs'' in the annals of ''Thietmari merseburgiensis episcopi chronicon'' written in the years 1012 - 1018 (under the rule of Bolesław) by the Saxon bishop and chronicler [[Thietmar of Merseburg]].<ref>"Thietmari meseburgensis episcopi chronicon", Fridericus Kurze, Hannoverae, Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1889, page 16 and page 59.</ref> The Polish rulers had a [[castellan]]y built at the river to control it. Duke Bolesław allied with Emperor [[Otto III]] to fight against the Polabian Lutici tribes, sealed in the 1000 [[Congress of Gniezno]]. On the other hand, in 13th-century chronicles, Lebus was named "the key to the Kingdom of Poland" and as a Polish stronghold against [[Kingdom of Germany|German]] invasion.<ref>''Piastowie. Leksykon biograficzny'', Kraków 1999, page 409</ref>

The [[Diocese of Lebus]] was founded in 1124-25 AD, during the reign of the Polish duke [[Bolesław III Wrymouth]] to counter and convert the resistant tribes of the Liutizi federation. Dedicated to Saint [[Adalbert of Prague]], it served as an important centre for Christian missionaries preaching in and developing the Oder region. Over the centuries, Lubusz Land turned out to be a battleground for neighbouring rulers. It was especially influenced by the [[Silesian Piasts]], dukes in the Polish [[Duchy of Silesia|Silesia]] province stretching up the Oder in the southeast. Lubusz Land became part of the [[Duchy of Silesia]] in 1138, after the death of duke Bolesław and the fragmentation of Poland.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zientara|first=Benedykt|title=Henryk Brodaty i jego czasy|publisher=Trio|year=2006|isbn=83-7436-056-9|pages=193–96|language=pl}}</ref> When in 1163 the [[Hohenstaufen]] emperor [[Frederick Barbarossa]] campaigned Silesia to support the sons of [[Władysław II the Exile]] against their Piast cousins, he also granted Lubusz Land on both sides of the Oder as a fief to the Silesian Piasts. [[Ostsiedlung|German colonization]] of the region proceeded throughout the 13th century and the settlement became predominantly known as ''Lebus''. The Silesian duke [[Henry the Bearded]] granted its citizens [[German town law|town privileges]] in 1226.

After the death of Henry's son Duke [[Henry II the Pious]] in the 1241 [[Battle of Legnica]], the Silesian Piasts were no longer able to maintain their dominant position. For a short time, Lubusz Land was under the rule of Duke [[Mieszko, Duke of Lubusz|Mieszko]], a younger son of Henry II, who died about one year later and was buried in the St. Peter's Church in Lubusz. In 1248/49 the Silesian duke [[Bolesław II Rogatka]] finally gave town and land in pledge to the [[House of Ascania|Ascanian]] margraves of [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] and Archbishop [[Wilbrand von Käfernburg|Wilbrand of Magdeburg]], whose forces had attacked Lubusz Land since the 1230s.
[[File:Lebus, Germany - panoramio.jpg|thumb|upright|St. Mary's Church]]
The Brandenburg margraves eventually took over control and during the Late Middle Ages, Lebus served as an important stop on trade routes from the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coast to [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]] and from the Greater Polish residence in [[Poznań]] to [[County of Flanders|Flanders]]. However, after the destruction of the town's cathedral by troops of Emperor [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] in 1373, during the struggle between the Imperial Houses of [[Wittelsbach]] and [[House of Luxembourg|Luxembourg]] Luxemburg over the Brandenburg heritage, the seat of the bishopric was moved from Lebus to [[Fürstenwalde]]. The populace became [[Lutheran]] during the [[Protestant Reformation]], and the bishopric was finally secularized in 1555 following the death of the last Catholic bishop, [[Georg von Blumenthal]]. 
[[File:Schloss Wulkow, Wulkow bei Booßen, Stadt Lebus, Deutschland.jpg|thumb|left|Palace in Wulkow in 1904]]
After the 16th century fires and political changes weakened the fortifications; the castle was decisively damaged by a lightning strike in 1713. Lebus gradually became a backwater locality. From 1701 onwards, Lebus was part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]]. In 1815 after the [[Napoleonic Wars]], it was administered within the newly established Prussian [[Province of Brandenburg]].

During the last stage of [[World War II]], Lebus, including its medieval center, was almost completely destroyed in the [[Battle of the Seelow Heights]]. While the town itself remained part of [[East Germany]], the area east of the Oder passed to the [[Polish People's Republic|Republic of Poland]] in 1945 according to the [[Potsdam Agreement]]. The parish church of Lebus was restored in 1954.

On 27 June 1977, a misdirected express train of the [[Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany)|Reichsbahn]] and a freight train collided in the [[Lebus train collision]]. The accident left 29 dead and many wounded.

Since the last administrative reform of Poland, one of the 16 Polish provinces has been named [[Lubusz Voivodeship]] or Province of Lebus.

[[File:LebusKulturhaus.JPG|thumb|House of Culture]]

==Politics==
===Town council===
The town council of Lebus has 16 representatives. The voter turnout for the 2019 local elections was 68.8%. Seats upon 2019 local elections:
*''Bürger für Lebus'' (BfL, Citizens' List): 1
*''Bürgerallianz für gerechte Kommunalabgaben'': 7
*''Wählervereinigung unabhängiger Bürger für Lebus'' (Free Voters): 4
*[[Christian Democratic Union of Germany]] (CDU): 2
*[[Alternative for Germany]] (AfD): 2

===Heraldry===
The [[coat of arms]] of Lebus depicts a wolf carrying a sheep in its mouth.

==Demography==
[[File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Lebus.pdf|thumb|200px|left|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)]]

{{historical populations
|align=none | cols=2 | percentages=pagr
|title = Lebus: Population development <br>within the current boundaries (2013)<ref>Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Population_projection_Brandenburg Population Projection Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons]</ref>
| 1875 | 3384
| 1890 | 3407
| 1910 | 2601
| 1925 | 3510
| 1933 | 3398
| 1939 | 3249
| 1946 | 2452
| 1950 | 2862
| 1964 | 2751
| 1971 | 2740
| 1981 | 2425
| 1985 | 2390
| 1989 | 2426
| 1990 | 2425
| 1991 | 2373
| 1992 | 2359
| 1993 | 2361
| 1994 | 2525
| 1995 | 2702
| 1996 | 2824
| 1997 | 3001
| 1998 | 3133
| 1999 | 3208
| 2000 | 3301
| 2001 | 3362
| 2002 | 3400
| 2003 | 3424
| 2004 | 3395
| 2005 | 3370
| 2006 | 3346
| 2007 | 3306
| 2008 | 3270
| 2009 | 3243
| 2010 | 3192
| 2011 | 3205
| 2012 | 3197
| 2013 | 3144
| 2014 | 3148
| 2015 | 3146
| 2016 | 3145
}}

==Sights==
[[File:LebusSchulstrasse6u7.JPG|thumb|''Haus Lebuser Land'' is a museum dedicated to the history of [[Lubusz Land]]]]

===Constructed===
The ''Heimatstube Lebus'' has information about the history and tourism sights of the town.

===Natural===

Nearby hills and ridges have provided natural defenses to the town for over a thousand years. The Turmberg offers a view of the Oder river valley.

==Notable people==
*[[Günter Eich]] (1907–1972), author

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.amt-lebus.de/ Municipal website] {{in lang|de}}

{{Cities and towns in Märkisch-Oderland (district)}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Localities in Märkisch-Oderland]]
[[Category:History of Silesia]]