Hohenfinow

Hohenfinow is a municipality in the Barnim district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is part of the Amt ("collective municipality") Amt Britz-Chorin-Oderberg.

Hohenfinow
Municipality
Location of Hohenfinow within Barnim district
Hohenfinow Hohenfinow
Coordinates: 52°49′N 13°56′E
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Barnim
Municipal assoc.	Amt Britz-Chorin-Oderberg
Government
• Mayor (2024–29)	Ronny Püschel
Area
• Total	21.91 km2 (8.46 sq mi)
Elevation	55 m (180 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)
• Total	522
• Density	24/km2 (62/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	16248
Dialling codes	033362
Vehicle registration	BAR
Website	britz-chorin-oderberg.de

Geography

Hohenfinow is located about 8 km (5.0 mi) east of Eberswalde. It is part of a rural area on the northeastern rim of the Barnim Plateau, south of the Finow River and the Finow Canal. The glacial valley in the north with the neighbouring municipality of Niederfinow separates it from the adjacent Uckermark region. The historic village centre is surrounded by extended fields, meadows and pine forests.

History

Parish church

A fortress overlooking the Finow valley and a ford across the river was erected about 1220, after the area settled by Polabian Slavs had been conquered by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg. The foundations of the parish church date back to around 1250. The settlement itself was first mentioned in a 1334 deed issued by the Wittelsbach margrave Louis I.

Temporarily held by Count Henry Matthias of Thurn, the estates were sold to the Pfuel noble family in 1614. During the indecisive stance of Brandenburg in the Thirty Years' War, Hohenfinow was devastated by a contingent under Ernst von Mansfeld in 1626, and again by Imperial, Saxon and Swedish troops in the following years. The rebuilding began with three remaining farmsteads. In 1780 the cornfields of Hohenfinow were mentioned in a travel account by Johann III Bernoulli.

From 1815 to 1947, Hohenfinow was part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. In 1855 the Hohenfinow manor was purchased by Felix von Bethmann Hollweg (1824–1900), scion of a Frankfurt banking dynasty and father of the later German chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, who was born here in 1856. In the last days of World War II, a unit of the "Army Detachment Steiner" rested near Hohenfinow before the troops withdraw to Eberswalde.

From 1947 to 1952, Hohenfinow was part of the State of Brandenburg, from 1952 to 1990 of the East German Bezirk Frankfurt and since 1990 again of Brandenburg.

Demography

Development of population since 1875 within the current boundaries (Blue line: Population; Dotted line: Comparison to population development of Brandenburg state; Grey background: Time of Nazi rule; Red background: Time of communist rule)

Hohenfinow: Population development
within the current boundaries (2020)

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1875 776 —     1890 758 −0.16% 1910 812 +0.34% 1925 879 +0.53% 1933 864 −0.21% 1939 872 +0.15% 1946 894 +0.36% 1950 1,015 +3.22% 1964 829 −1.44% 1971 849 +0.34% 1981 639 −2.80% 1985 579 −2.43% 1989 580 +0.04% 1990 574 −1.03% 1991 563 −1.92%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1992 546 −3.02% 1993 539 −1.28% 1994 541 +0.37% 1995 539 −0.37% 1996 558 +3.53% 1997 569 +1.97% 1998 581 +2.11% 1999 571 −1.72% 2000 575 +0.70% 2001 555 −3.48% 2002 550 −0.90% 2003 543 −1.27% 2004 538 −0.92% 2005 537 −0.19% 2006 524 −2.42%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2007 513 −2.10% 2008 509 −0.78% 2009 521 +2.36% 2010 524 +0.58% 2011 519 −0.95% 2012 500 −3.66% 2013 512 +2.40% 2014 512 +0.00% 2015 526 +2.73% 2016 528 +0.38% 2017 525 −0.57% 2018 515 −1.90% 2019 522 +1.36% 2020 537 +2.87%