Spandau, Berlin, Germany

🇩🇪 Spandau is a locality (Ortsteil) of Berlin in the homonymous borough (Bezirk) of Spandau. The historic city is situated, for the most part, on the western banks of the Havel river.

Position The locality is situated in the middle of its borough. It borders Wilhelmstadt in the south, Staaken and Falkenhagener Feld in the west, Hakenfelde in the north as well as Haselhorst, Siemensstadt and Westend (in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district) in the east.

Subdivision Spandau proper is subdivided into four historic neighbourhoods (Ortslagen): 1 Altstadt Spandau (Old Town);

2 Neustadt Spandau (New Town, the northern expansion);

3 Stresow (east of the Havel);

4 Kolk-Spandau.

Spandau is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs (Bezirke) of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land area.

Overview Modern industries in Spandau include metalworking, and chemical and electrical factories. BMW Motorrad's Spandau factory made all BMW's motorcycles from 1969 until final assembly plants were added in Rayong, Thailand, in 2000, and Manaus, Brazil, in 2016.

Rathaus Spandau, Spandau's seat of government, was built in 1913. Other landmarks include the Renaissance-era Spandau Citadel, the 1848 St. Marien am Behnitz Catholic church designed by August Soller, and Spandau arsenal. That arsenal's Spandau machine gun inspired the slang Spandau Ballet to describe dying soldiers on barbed wire during the First World War, and later was applied to the appearance of Nazi war criminals at Spandau Prison. In 1979, the English New Romantic band Spandau Ballet again re-purposed the term for its name.

History The history of Spandau begins in the 7th century or 8th century, when the Slav Heveller first settled in the area and later built a fortress there. It was conquered in 928 by the German King Henry I, but returned to Slavic rule after the rebellion of 983.

In 1156, the Ascanian Earl Albrecht von Ballenstedt ("Albrecht the Bear") took possession of the region. 1197 marked the first mention as Spandowe in a deed of Otto II, Margrave of Brandenburg – thus forty years earlier than the Cölln part of medieval Berlin. Spandau was given city rights in 1232.

During Ascanian rule the construction of Spandau Citadel began, which was completed between 1559 and 1594 by Joachim II of Brandenburg. In 1558 the village of Gatow became part of Spandau. In 1634, during the Thirty Years' War, Spandau was surrendered to the Swedes.

In 1806, after the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt, French troops under Napoleon took possession of the city and stayed there until 1807. In 1812, Napoleon returned, and the Citadel was besieged the following year by Prussian and Russian troops.

From 1849 the poet and revolutionary Gottfried Kinkel was an inmate of Spandau town prison, until he was freed by his friend Carl Schurz in the night of 6 November 1850.

Before World War I, Spandau was a seat of large government cannon foundries, factories for making gunpowder and other munitions of war, making it a centre of the arms industry in the German Empire. It was also a garrison town with numerous barracks, home of the 5th Guard Infantry Brigade and the 5th Guard Foot Regiment of the German Army. In 1920, Spandau (whose name had been changed from Spandow in 1878) was incorporated into Greater Berlin as a borough.

After World War II, it was part of the British sector of West Berlin. Spandau Prison, which had been rebuilt in 1876, was used to house Nazi war criminals given custodial sentences at the Nuremberg Trials. After the death of Spandau Prison's last inmate, Rudolf Hess, in 1987, it was completely demolished by the Allied powers and later replaced by a shopping mall.

Gatow airfield, in the south of the district, was used by the Royal Air Force during the post-war Allied occupation, most notably during the Berlin Airlift. Since 1995 the airfield has been the Gatow Museum of Military History.

Geography Outside Berlin, Spandau borders the districts (Kreis) of Oberhavel to the north, and Havelland to the west, and the city of Potsdam, Brandenburg, to the southwest. Within Berlin, it borders the boroughs of Steglitz-Zehlendorf to the south, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf to the east, and Reinickendorf to the northeast. Its land area of 91.91 km² (35.49 sq mi) is the fourth-largest of the twelve boroughs.

Subdivisions Spandau Borough is divided into nine quarters (Ortsteile): • Spandau • Haselhorst • Siemensstadt • Staaken • Gatow • Kladow • Hakenfelde • Falkenhagener Feld • Wilhelmstadt.

Sport The Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 have traditionally been an immensely powerful water polo team. They have been the most successful ball sports team in Europe with 85 national and international titles. Hagen Stamm, longtime captain of the team, was German champion fourteen times in a row from 1979 to 1992, and winner of the German cup twelve times and won the European Cup in 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1989. He is currently the president of the association (as of 2020). The team's home games do not take place in the district, but in the Sportzentrum Schöneberg. For 2027, the team plans to move to the then newly constructed arena in Spandau.

In 1939, LSV Spandau won the title of the first German basketball championship, which was won by a clear 47:16 victory over Bad Kreuznach. After 1945, the association was dissolved.