Editing Cottbus (section)

== History ==
===Medieval period===
[[File:Cottbus 07-2017 img26 Klosterkirche.jpg|thumb|left|[[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] Franciscan church and later Sorbian Protestant Church]]
The settlement was established in the tenth century, when [[Sorbs]] erected a [[castle]] on a sandy island in the River [[Spree (river)|Spree]]. It was captured by the [[March of Lusatia]] in 965, then it passed to Poland under [[Bolesław I the Brave]] in 1002, and back to the March of Lusatia in 1032. The first recorded mention of the town's name was in 1156. In the 13th century [[Ostsiedlung|German settlers]] came to the town and thereafter lived side by side with the Sorbs.

In the [[Middle Ages]] Cottbus was known for [[wool]], and the town's drapery was exported throughout Brandenburg, [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]] and [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]]. It was also located on an important trade route, called the "Salt Road", which was used to transport salt from [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]] to Lusatia and further east to Poland.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pieradzka|first=Krystyna|year=1949|title=Związki handlowe Łużyc ze Śląskiem w dawnych wiekach|journal=Sobótka|language=pl|location=Wrocław|volume=IV|issue=4|page=90}}</ref> It was part of the [[Margraviate of Lusatia]] and later [[Lower Lusatia]], which was held by the [[House of Wettin]] until it became a [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Bohemian Crown Land]] in 1367. In 1445 Cottbus was acquired by the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] from Bohemia. It was an [[exclave]] almost completely surrounded by Bohemian Lower Lusatia (with a short border with the [[Electorate of Saxony]] to the south-west).

{{Quote box |width=22em |align=right |bgcolor=#B0C4DE
|title=Historical affiliations
|quote=[[March of Lusatia]] 965–1002<br />
[[Duchy of Poland (c. 960–1025)|Duchy of Poland]] 1002–1025<br />
[[Kingdom of Poland]] 1025–1031<br />
[[Duchy of Poland (1031–1076)|Duchy of Poland]] 1032<br />
<span style="margin-right:7px;">{{flagicon image|Armoiries Basse-Lusace.svg|border=|size=18px}}</span> [[March of Lusatia]] 1032–1367<br />
{{flag|Kingdom of Bohemia}} 1367–1445<br />
{{flagicon image|Pabellon de Brandeburgo (c. 1684).svg}} [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] 1445–1618<br />
{{flagicon image|Pabellon de Brandeburgo (c. 1684).svg}} [[Brandenburg-Prussia]] 1618–1701<br />
{{flag|Kingdom of Prussia|1750}} 1701–1807<br />
{{flagicon image|State flag of Saxony before 1815.svg}} [[Kingdom of Saxony]] 1807–1815<br />
{{flag|Kingdom of Prussia|1803}} 1815–1871<br />
{{flag|German Empire}} 1871–1918<br />
{{flag|Weimar Republic}} 1918–1933<br />
{{flag|Nazi Germany}} 1933–1945<br />
{{flag|Allied-occupied Germany}} 1945–1949<br />
{{flag|GDR}} 1949–1990<br />
{{flag|GER|name=Federal Republic Germany}} 1990–date
}}
===Modern period===
In 1514 Jan Rak founded the {{lang|la|Universitas Serborum}}, a Sorbian gymnasium, in the city. In 1635 Lower Lusatia was ceded by Bohemia to Saxony, thereby making Cottbus an [[enclave]] of Saxony. Since the 1690s, [[French people|French]], [[Walloons]] and [[Palatines]] settled in the city.<ref>{{cite book|last=Muret|first=Eduard|title=Geschichte der Französischen Kolonie in Brandenburg-Preußen, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Berliner Gemeinde. Aus Veranlassung der Zweihundertjährigen Jubelfeier am 29. Oktober 1885|year=1885|location=Berlin|language=de|page=209}}</ref> In 1701 [[Brandenburg-Prussia]] became the [[Kingdom of Prussia]].

In 1807, following the [[War of the Fourth Coalition]], Cottbus was ceded by Prussia to the [[Kingdom of Saxony]] by the [[Treaties of Tilsit|Treaty of Tilsit]], reuniting it with Lower Lusatia. Cottbus was returned to Prussia by the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815 after the Napoleonic wars. Lower Lusatia was also ceded to Prussia and both became part of the Prussian [[Province of Brandenburg]] (and {{lang|de|Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt}}), where they remained until 1947. In the 19th century, the ''Bramborski Serbski Casnik'' Sorbian newspaper was published in the city, and in 1880, the first Lower Lusatian department of the [[Maćica Serbska]] organization was established there.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I|year=1880|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=598}}</ref>
[[File:Bramborski Serbski Casnik.jpg|thumb|upright|First issue of the ''Bramborski Serbski Casnik'' Sorbian newspaper, 1848]]

Up to 142 French prisoners of war were held in the town by the Prussians during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870–1871.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Stanek|first=Piotr|year=2011|title=Obozy jenieckie i obozy internowania w Chociebużu|magazine=Pro Lusatia|location=Opole|language=pl|volume=10|page=73}}</ref> In 1871 Prussia, and therefore Cottbus, became part of the [[German Empire]]. According to the Prussian census of 1905, the city of Cottbus had a population of 46,270, of which 97% were [[Germans]], 2% were [[Sorbs]] and 1% were [[Polish people|Poles]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Belzyt|first=Leszek|url=https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/search?isbn|title=Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 - 1914 ; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar|date=1998|publisher=Herder-Inst.|isbn=978-3-87969-267-5|location=Marburg}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===World War I and the interwar period===
During [[World War I]], Germany operated two [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War I|prisoner-of-war camps]] and a detention center for [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] privates in the city.<ref>Stanek, p. 74</ref> The first captives, some 7,500 Russians, were mostly kept outdoors, which, combined with poor sanitary and medical conditions, resulted in an [[epidemic typhus]] outbreak, with 70% of the prisoners falling ill, and some 400 dying.<ref>Stanek, pp. 74–75</ref> Soon, also POWs of other nationalities, including French, British, Belgian, Serbian, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese and Australian were held in the POW camps in Cottbus.<ref>Stanek, p. 77</ref> Conditions in the camps were poor due to overcrowding, filth, inadequate heating in winter, and insufficient medical supplies in the camps' lazarettes.<ref>Stanek, pp. 78–79</ref> Western Allied POWs were eventually released until mid-January 1919, whereas Russian POWs remained in the camps and were employed at local [[lignite]] mines.<ref name=ps83>Stanek, p. 83</ref> Many Russian POWs preferred to stay in the camp rather than leave for [[Soviet Russia]] and be forced into the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] and army, and many were released to Russia only between September 1920 and January 1921, however some 600 to 1,000 Russians remained in the camp as of June 1921.<ref>Stanek, pp. 83–84, 90</ref>

The former prisoner-of-war camp was used as a concentration camp for some 1,200 to 1,500 Polish activists, civilians and insurgents of the [[Silesian Uprisings]] of 1919–1921, who were often subjected to harassment, beatings and tortures, with their deportation from [[Upper Silesia]] to Cottbus being a breach of the [[Treaty of Versailles]].<ref>Stanek, pp. 84–85, 91</ref> Among the prisoners were dozens of women with children, and elderly men, and camp conditions remained poor.<ref>Stanek, pp. 92–94</ref> It was also the site of a concentration camp for unwanted [[Jews|Jewish]] refugees from [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stone |first1=Dan|author-link=Dan Stone (historian) |title=Concentration Camps: A Very Short Introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-103502-9 |language=en|page=31}}</ref> Since late 1922, also Polish laborers and their families were detained in the camp before their deportation to Poland.<ref>Stanek, p. 99</ref> The camp was eventually closed in December 1923.<ref>Stanek, p. 100</ref>

===World War II and the post-war period===
During [[World War II]], a Nazi prison for women was operated in the city with multiple [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamps located both in the city and other places in the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=985|title=Frauenzuchthaus Cottbus|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=30 October 2021|language=de}}</ref> Polish actor [[Władysław Hańcza]] was imprisoned in a forced labour camp in the city in 1944–1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dziennikteatralny.pl/artykuly/wladyslaw-hancza-1905-1977.html|title=Władysław Hańcza (1905 – 1977)|website=Dziennik Teatralny|access-date=30 September 2023|language=pl}}</ref> In the final weeks of the war, Cottbus was taken by the [[Red Army]] on 22 April 1945.

In January 1946, Cottbus issued 34 semi-postal postage stamps to help finance rebuilding the city. From 1949 until [[German reunification]] in 1990, Cottbus was part of the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany). From 1952 to 1990, Cottbus was the administrative seat of [[Bezirk Cottbus]].