BrandenburgerS
 
One thing
ahead: If someone should ever offer
you a “verbrannten Burger = burnt burger“, this is not a German
regional specialty! - Nevertheless the word “region“ has a
special importance in the case of the Brandenburgers, because like all
New-Tribes they are named for the land, in which they arose. For most of
these tribes it is additionally important that their lands later became parts
of the Prussian state, which is connected to Brandenburg in a special way.
One could almost
even say that it is typically Prussian, that the “Mark Brandenburg“
has a precise date of foundation, the 11th of June 1157 ... -
It is however older than Prussia and arose (like the other “Marken =
marches/ borderland“) in the middle-ages, on old-Germanic soil, which had
been slightly settled with Slavs after the migration of the peoples and the
invasion of the Asian Avars (in the year 556). It first served the purpose of
building a protection for the older territories of the Reich. The land
received the nickname “Streusandbüchse des Heiligen Römischen Reichs
(Deutscher Nation) = Grit Box of the Holy Roman Empire (of the German
Nation)“ because of it’s partly low fertility. This is however not
appropriate for the entire land.
The settlers came
mostly from Lower-Saxony, from the Netherlands and Flanders, where “storm
tides“ had caused huge devastation at this time, as well as from other
old-Frankish territories at the Rhine. The name Brandenburg comes directly
from a ”Burg = castle“. The ruler was named “Margrave in (or of)
Brandenburg“. The town Brandenburg still exists today.
Now a time of
expansion followed, which made Pomerania a part of Brandenburg too for some
time. The further expansion of Brandenburg led to a conflict with the
Teutonic (German) Order in Prussia. The Teutonic Order won and the
Brandenburgers had to withdraw from the area of Danzig. The access to the
Baltic Sea was later lost again completely. These developments did however
not change anything about the meaning of Brandenburg, which even became a
”Kurfürstentum = electorate”. - Electorates where those seven
principalities, which where allowed to elect the German king (normally also
Kaiser), accordingly to the “Golden Bull“ (a kind of constitution) of 1356.
This made the
rule over Brandenburg however also interesting for other powers. 1373 it went
to the Luxemburger line, to which Kaiser Karl IV. belonged, who united it
with Bohemia. Despite this was supposed to be “auf ewig = forever“, it
changed it changed quickly ...
Of much bigger
importance was the conferral to Friedrich VI. von Nuremberg 1415, a
member of the Hohenzollern line, which originally comes from Swabia
(see Swabians/Alemans). This
Friedrich now became Friedrich der I. von Brandenburg and made Berlin his
Residence!
Friedrich I. becomes Markgrave of Brandenburg.
The Flags are two Reichsbanners on the left and on the right two ”Märkische
Adler = Markish Eagles” as well as two flags of the Hohenzollern line.
Later a division
of Brandenburg followed in between, but in 1618 it’s importance
started to enlarge only the more, because in this year (shortly before the
Thirty Years’ War) the common history with Prussia began. Since the decline
of the state of the Teutonic Order, Prussia had been settled by Germans, but
a feoff of the Polish king. It had never belonged to the Reich, despite it
was a part of Germany! Now the “Kurfürst = electoral prince“ of Brandenburg
got this feoff for the Dukedom of Prussia.
During the Thirty
Years’ War the electoral prince fled to Prussia, while the land and the
Brandenburgers awfully had to suffer under the cruelty of this war. The
number of inhabited towns halved! At the same time the Kurfürst of
Brandenburg did however win the sovereignty of the Dukedom of Prussia (treaty
of Wehlau). Prussia was now independent of Poland again and steadily
connected to Brandenburg. - The result is called “Brandenburg-Preußen
= Brandenburg-Prussia”.
The time after
the Thirty Years’ War was a time of rebuilding in Brandenburg. It is also the
darkest period in the history of the Brandenburgish State, as this one tried
to build up colonies in Western Africa and in the Caribean (St. Thomas), in
order to take part in the world wide slave trade. For Brandenburg this crime
did however not become profitable and so one soon sold the colonies to other
powers.
Much more
important for the Brandenburgers were the following events at home:
After the time of the so called “Großer Kurfürst = great electoral prince“
(Friedrich Wilhelm; 1640-1688), the successor Friedrich III. Could adopt the
title “King in Prussia” on the 18th of January 1701.
Prussia still didn’t belong to the Reich. At the same time Brandenburg (which
was a part of the Reich!) was now also a part of this state of the new king …
Berlin
became the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, as it was the
residence of the “King in Prussia and electoral prince of Brandenburg“.
Accordingly Brandenburg stayed the heartland of this state, even though the
name of Prussia (the medieval heritage of the Teutonic Order) prevailed just
as much as it’s colours black and white, which were identical with those of
the Hohenzollern line.
(1) Johann Joachim Winkelmann -
The founder of the classical archaeology and the modern science of
art.
(2) Karl Friedrich Schinkel -
A brilliant architect, who marked Berlin and Brandenburg. -
As an artist he also designed the Iron Cross in 1813, during the “Wars
of Liberation“ (“German Campaign of 1813”) against Napoleon’s France. The
Iron Cross was based on the Cross of the Teutonic Order and became the German
military national-symbol. It stands for fidelity, bravery and courage (see
our chapter “Symbols”).
(3) The famous natural scientist
Alexander von Humboldt and his brother Wilhelm (4). Wilhelm supported a
national unification of the German states at the Congress of Vienna (1815)
and was a very important linguist.
It would be
nonsense to continue to tell the Prussian history here (see Prussians).
However it’s of course important, that the Prussian capital Berlin became
Reichscapital in 1871 (2nd Reich). Because Berlin strongly
grew at that time, it’s population was soon bigger than the one of the rest
of Brandenburg added together. In the administration this led to a
separation, but it has to be considered that this happened inside the
Prussian State. Accordingly the kind of separation since 1945 is something
completely different.
Dialect and
mentality connect the Brandenburgers still today, even though there are of
course rivalries between Berliners and the more rural Brandenburgers. The
relationship of the cities of Berlin and Potsdam is thereby a little bit like
the one of New York and New Jersey – a bit(!), as these American
“counterparts” did of course never have a common state- and tribal
background.
Absolutely typical
for the Brandenburgers is their ribald humor -
and of course also the ”Preußischen Tugenden = Prussian virtues“.
There are probably hardly any proud Brandenburgers, who do not also regard
themselves as “Prussians”. The article “Prussians“
explains this more detailedly. In every case there is no dialect,
that one associates as much with Prussia as the Brandenburger way of talking
(even though many people call it “Berlinerisch“ today ...). Accordingly it
would be a mistake to stop reading here ...
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