View source for Spremberg

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox German location
|name = Spremberg<br>Grodk
|German_name=Gródek|type                = Stadt
|image_photo        = Rathaus und Kreuzkirche in Spremberg.jpg
|image_caption      = Market square
|image_coa          = Wappen_Spremberg.png
|image_flag         = Hissflagge der Stadt Spremberg.png
|coordinates        = {{coord|51|34|18|N|14|22|46|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|image_plan          = Spremberg in SPN.png
|state         = Brandenburg
|district          = Spree-Neiße
|elevation               = 97
|area             = 202.31
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 12071372
|postal_code                = 03130
|area_code            = 03563
|licence                = SPN, FOR, GUB, SPB
|website           = [http://www.stadt-spremberg.de/ www.stadt-spremberg.de]
|mayor             = Christine Herntier<ref>[https://wahlen.brandenburg.de/wahlen/de/kommunalwahlen/bm-wahlen/ergebnisse/~12071000 Landkreis Spree-Neiße Wahl der Bürgermeisterin / des Bürgermeisters], accessed 13 November 2022.</ref>
|leader_term       = 2021&ndash;29
|party             = Independent
}}

'''Spremberg''' or '''Grodk''' ({{langx|dsb|Grodk}}, {{IPA|dsb|ˈɡrɔtk|pron}}; [[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Gródek'' {{IPA|pl|ˈɡru.dɛk}}) is a municipality near the Saxon city of [[Hoyerswerda]] and is in the [[Spree-Neiße]] district of [[Brandenburg]], [[Germany]].

First mentioned in 1301, the town alone has 14,028 inhabitants, and the municipality, including other villages, has 22,456 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2017.

==Geography==
Spremberg is situated about 20&nbsp;km (12 miles) south of [[Cottbus]] and 25&nbsp;km (15 miles) north of [[Hoyerswerda]], on an island and on both banks of the [[river Spree]]. Between 1871 and 1918 the town was the geographical centre of the [[German Empire]]: today, it is only 25&nbsp;km (15 miles) from the German-[[Poland|Polish]] border. On 1 January 2016, the former municipality [[Hornow-Wadelsdorf]] became part of Spremberg.

==Demography==
<gallery widths="250" heights="200">
Bevölkerungsentwicklung Spremberg.pdf|Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population development in Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of [[Nazi Germany]]; Red Background: Time of communist [[East Germany]])
Bevölkerungsprognosen Spremberg.pdf|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)
</gallery>

{{historical populations
|align=none | cols=3 | percentages=pagr
|title = Spremberg: Population development <br>within the current boundaries (2020)<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 | 19546
| 1890 | 20239
| 1910 | 24472
| 1925 | 27178
| 1939 | 30989
| 1950 | 27879
| 1964 | 37222
| 1971 | 32635
| 1981 | 30565
| 1985 | 30739
| 1990 | 29665
| 1995 | 28935
| 2000 | 28160
| 2005 | 26416
| 2010 | 24373
| 2015 | 22232
| 2016 | 22750
| 2017 | 22456
| 2018 | 22175
| 2019 | 21998
| 2020 | 21749
}}

==Mayors==
* Friedrich Nath (1908–1919)
* Paul Steffen (1920–1931)
* Richard Buder (1931–1933)
* Kurt Kaulbars (1933–1945) NSDAP
* Rudolf Otto (1944–1945) temporary
* August Scholta (1945–1945) temporary
* Richard Buder (1945–1946)
* Willi Lange (1946–1953)
* Ruth Kartschall (1953–1961)
* Herbert Köhler (1961–1965)
* Günter Frenzel (1965–1975)
* Lothar Barnowski (1975–1975) temporary
* Hannelore Neumann (1975–1990) SED
* Egon Wochatz (1990–2002) CDU
* Klaus-Peter Schulze (2002–2013) CDU
* Christine Schönherr (2013–2013) temporary, independent
* Frank Kulik (2014–2014) temporary, independent
* Christine Herntier (since 2014), independent

==Culture==
In 1911 there were [[Roman Catholic]] and two Protestant churches and a pilgrimage chapel dating from 1100, there was a [[ducal]] chateau built by a son of the [[Prince-elector|elector]] [[John George, Elector of Brandenburg|John George]] around the end of the 16th century (now used as government offices), and there were classical, technical and commercial schools as well as a hospital.

==Schwarze Pumpe==
{{See also|Schwarze Pumpe power station|Ende Gelände 2016}}

Schwarze Pumpe ({{langx|dsb|Carna Plumpa}}) is a district of Spremberg, lying approximately 7&nbsp;km (5 miles) southwest of Spremberg's town centre on the federal state boundary between Brandenburg to Saxony. It had 1886 inhabitants as of 31 December 2017. A large industrial area extending into Saxony and including the site of a large [[Schwarze Pumpe power station|power plant]] is known by the same name.

On 26 May 2006, construction work started on the world's first {{chem|CO|2}}-free coal power plant in the Schwarze Pumpe industrial district. The plant is based on a concept called [[carbon capture and storage]], which means that carbon emissions will be captured and compressed to {{frac|1|500|}}<sup>th</sup> their original volume, liquefying the gas. It will then be forced 1,000 metres (3,300&nbsp;ft) below the soil into porous rock where it is believed that it will remain for thousands of years without exacerbating [[global warming]]. The project, which has cost some 70 million [[Euro]]s, was funded entirely by the Swedish company [[Vattenfall AB]] and went into service on 9 September 2008. The power plant was a pilot project to serve as a prototype for future full-scale power plants.<ref>{{citation| title= Germany leads 'clean coal' pilot| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7584151.stm| date=3 September 2008| publisher=BBC News}}</ref> Vattenfall stopped carbon capture R&D at the plant in 2014 because they found that "its costs and the energy it requires make the technology unviable".<ref>{{cite web | title=Vattenfall abandons research on CO2 storage | url=http://www.thelocal.se/20140507/vattenfall-abandons-research-on-co2-storage | date=7 May 2014 | newspaper=[[The Local]] }}</ref>

==Twin towns – sister cities==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany}}
Spremberg is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web |title=Partnerstädte|url=https://spremberg.de/rathaus/stadtportraet-und-ortsteile/partnerstaedte|website=spremberg.de|publisher=Spremberg|language=de|access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|CAN}} [[Grand Forks, British Columbia|Grand Forks]], Canada
*{{flagicon|POL}} [[Gmina Szprotawa|Szprotawa]], Poland
*{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Zheleznogorsk, Kursk Oblast|Zheleznogorsk]], Russia

==Notable people==
*[[Johann Agricola]] (1530–1590), Protestant theologian
*[[Otto Ostrowski]] (1883–1963), politician (SPD), Lord Mayor of Berlin 1946/1947
*[[Erwin Strittmatter]] (1912–1994), writer
*[[Joachim Teege]] (1925–1969), actor and cabaret artist
*[[Dirk Meier]] (born 1964), cyclist
*[[Sebastian Piersig]] (born 1984), slalom-canoeist
*[[Martha Israel]] (1905–{{circa|1967}}), politician (SED, DFD), member of the [[Volkskammer]] and the city council<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pawlowski |first=Rita |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2e4iAQAAIAAJ&q=martha+israel+Lohsa |title=Unsere Frauen stehen ihren Mann: Frauen in der Volkskammer der DDR 1950 bis 1989 : ein biographisches Handbuch |date=2008 |publisher={{ill|Trafo Verlagsgruppe}} |isbn=978-3-89626-652-1 |location=Berlin |pages=126 |language=de |trans-title=Our Women Stand Their Ground: Women in the People's Chamber of the GDR, 1950 to 1989: a Biographical Handbook |oclc=277197894}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Spremberg}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Spremberg |volume=25 |short=x}}

{{Cities and towns in Spree-Neiße (district)}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Germany}}

[[Category:Spremberg| ]]
[[Category:Populated places in Spree-Neiße]]