Oderberg Fortress

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Fort walls of the fortress Oderberg, called "Bärenkasten"
Last surviving settler's house from the end of the 18th century on the inside of the fort wall
Fort wall with signs of weathering

The Oderberg Fortress , originally Bardyn Castrum , also popularly called Bärenkasten Fortress , originally stood on an Oder island in front of today's town of Oderberg . After the regulation of the Oder in the 18th century, the island silted up. Today you can find the remains of the fortress in an allotment garden in the middle of the city.

Surname

The original name of the Oderberg Fortress was Bardyn Castrum . The name Bärenkasten has been documented in two sources since the 17th century. On the one hand, in 1623, citizens of Oderberg complained that the prince-elector, who used the fortress as a base for hunting purposes, should dispose of stinking rubbish from the bear box. It is assumed that in times of peace bears were kept in a so-called bear box for hunting and for the amusement of the electoral hunting party in the fortress, as was common in many fortresses, palaces and castles at that time.

In the second source, Maria Sibylla Merian wrote in 1652 that bears are imprisoned in the fortress. The name Bärenkasten for the remains of the fortress has been preserved over the centuries.

14th to 17th centuries

The fortress was built from 1353 in place of a castle that was destroyed in the war against the Pomeranians in 1349 and was located on today's Albrechtsberg. Since the location of the castle no longer met the requirements as a border fortress, to protect the Oder crossing and the trading route, as well as for customs control, Margrave Ludwig the Roman of Brandenburg had the old destroyed castle torn down and a new fortress built on an island opposite the Oder island. The Slavs had already built a refuge at the same place .

Since Margrave Ludwig himself lacked the financial means, he gave the local nobles Henning von Uchtenhagen and Dietrich von Mörner permission to build the fortress. To cover the construction costs, the v. Uchtenhagen and v. Mörner are given a share of the fort's income and the right to live in the fort. When the fortress was completed in 1355, Henning v. Uchtenhagen his shares in Johann von Wedel .

In the following years the fortress was equipped with weapons, including cannons . Under the protection of the fortress, Oderberg experienced a considerable economic boom. In 1375, the Landbuch Kaiser Karls IV records the highest income for Oderberg in the Mark Brandenburg . From 1442 onwards, weekly markets were held where regional products were offered. For goods from other areas, initially one, from 1532 two annual markets were held. During this period of peace, which was long at the time, the fortress was increasingly neglected and, according to contemporary reports, is said to have fallen into ruin.

Thirty Years' War

After the plague epidemics of 1605, 1611 and 1612, the Thirty Years War finally broke out in 1618 . Elector Georg Wilhelm von Brandenburg had the Oderberg fortress rebuilt, upgraded and manned because of the threat to his country from the neighboring Swedes from Swedish Western Pomerania . The Oderberg citizens were obliged to participate in the construction work. In 1636, a 150-man crew finally moved into the fortress under the command of Captain Baltasar Kunitz. In the following year, Swedish troops under General von Dromont appeared in front of Oderberg and besieged the fortress for several weeks without success. The city was almost completely destroyed by the fighting. After the Swedes withdrew, reconstruction began, the fortress was repaired and a. reinforced with entrenchments, so-called Kontreeskarpen . From July 14, 1639, the fortress was again besieged by the Swedes under General Dromark. Again, and the crew, now under Captain August Friedrich von Kötteritz , proved to be invincible. The Swedes even tried to conquer the Oderberg fortress with rafts and boats. But this project also failed due to the high water level and the strong current of the Oder, so that the Swedish troops broke off the siege and moved on. The fortress was damaged, but remained ready for action and was reinforced. Oderberg, on the other hand, was completely destroyed this time and an uninhabited, desolate place. Not until 1645 did new residents settle in again.

17th century to 18th century

Friedrich III. , since 1688 Elector of Brandenburg and since 1701 as King Frederick I in Prussia , had the fortress expanded and provided with further entrenchments and trusses . At the beginning of his reign in 1688, the fortress was described as a building with 3 floors, inner courtyard, battlements , 4 corner towers and palisades . To the north of the fortress, outer forts were built to cover the Oder, armed with cannons and manned by crews.

At the end of the Great Northern War from 1700 to 1721, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I made peace with the Kingdom of Sweden on July 21, 1720 and acquired parts of Swedish Western Pomerania with the port city of Stettin , which subsequently became the main fortress , for 2 million talers was expanded. The Oderberg Fortress practically lost its importance and was gradually abandoned. Equipment and armament were removed and the crew reduced further and further until the fortress was finally unoccupied in 1750 and fell into disrepair. From 1754 one began to demolish buildings. The commandant's house was demolished and its building materials were used elsewhere, for example. B. in the house at today's Berliner Str. 50 in Oderberg. Only the 8 m high and 3 m wide fort walls made of field stones remained because there were field stones everywhere and they were so cheap that it was not worth tearing down the walls. The fortress island silted up due to the regulation of the Oder or the Oderbruch during the reign of King Friedrich II of Prussia.

18th century until today

At the end of the 18th century, the Prussian king had ten settler houses built on the inside of the fort walls at state expense. A colony for 100 people was established. Until 1882 there was even a separate cemetery for the bear box inhabitants on the site. In January 1799, King Friedrich Wilhelm III. from Prussia personally the blind invalid and former Prussian NCO Johann Friedrich Schützler the right to live in one of the houses as a long lease. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the settler houses were so dilapidated that the residents (15 families still lived here in 1905) of the nine state-owned houses had to be relocated and the houses had to be demolished. Only the house, which still exists today, was spared demolition, as the owners at the time were able to invoke the privileged residential and leasehold rights granted by the King in 1799.

Maintenance work has been carried out on the remains of the wall since 1905. Nevertheless, the deterioration is unstoppable, especially due to the weather. Because of the field stones loosening from the walls, the access to the inside of the bear box had to be blocked; the exterior, which is also affected by decay, is freely accessible. Intensive restoration work would be necessary to permanently secure the remains of the wall.

Fortress commanders

  • 1636–16xx Captain Baltasar Kunitz
  • 1639 (?) - 16xx Captain Friedrich August von Kötteritz
  • 1665–1674 Lieutenant Colonel Wolf Friedrich von Bromsdorff
  • 1677–1687 Lieutenant Colonel Hans Joachim von Hagen
  • 1687–1698 Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm von der Marwitz

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Web links

Commons : Fortress Oderberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 51 ′ 43 "  N , 14 ° 2 ′ 23"  E