Place:Köpenick, Treptow-Köpenick, Berlin, Germany

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Köpenick is a historic town and locality (Ortsteil) in Berlin, situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931. It is also known for the famous imposter Hauptmann von Köpenick.

Prior to its incorporation into Berlin in 1920, Köpenick had been an independent town. It then became a borough of Berlin, and with an area of , Berlin's largest. As a result of Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, the borough of Köpenick was merged with that of Treptow to create the current borough of Treptow-Köpenick.

Köpenick is home to the Bundesliga football club 1. FC Union Berlin, who play at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. Mellowpark, the largest outdoor skatepark in Europe, is located in the town.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

While its origins are shrouded in mystery, Köpenick has had a long history as an independent town. In the 12th century, it was the residence of a Wend prince, Jaxa of Köpenick. By this time, it had probably been settled by Wend tribes for about 400 years. After Jaxa's death, the principality was reigned by the dukes of Pomerania. While Albert the Bear had taken the city of Brandenburg in 1157, and thus formed the nucleus of what would eventually become the synonymous margraviate, the area around Köpenick was conquered from the south and thus initially became part of the March of Lusatia.

While Jaxa's bracteates or hollow pennies are coined with the impression "Iaczo de Copnic", in written history, Köpenick first appeared in a deed dated 12 Feb 1210 and issued under the seal of Margrave Conrad II of Lusatia, which contains the reference "Acta sunt hec ad Copnic". 1210 is also the year when on Conrad's death power in the principality transited to the Margraviate of Meißen and the House of Wettin. Köpenick was afforded town privileges by 1232, and German colonization commenced.

Köpenick may therefore be considered one of the oldest settlements in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, predating Spandau, Berlin and Cölln, which was first mentioned in a 1237 deed. For the most part of its history, the town was known as Cöp(e)nick.

The old Cöpenick consisted of three distinct parts that co-existed for centuries on the three banks of the Frauentog, a bight in the river Dahme: the castle with its garrison, the German-settled town of artisans, peasants and merchants, and the for still some time Sorbic-speaking Kietz, a hamlet containing the fishermen.

The castle was conquered by the Ascanian margraves John I and Otto III of Brandenburg in 1245, defeating their rivals Margrave Henry III of Meissen and the Archbishop of Magdeburg.

In 1631, the emissaries of George William, Elector of Brandenburg met at Cöpenick the approaching army of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, in a vain effort to stop the ongoing devastation of the margraviate during the Thirty Years' War.

In 1906, Wilhelm Voigt, a shoemaker and drifter, masqueraded as a Prussian officer and commandeered a squad of soldiers to follow him to Cöpenick to take control of the town hall. Carl Zuckmayer perpetuated the incident in his play The Captain of Cöpenick, on which several film and television adaptations have been based.

By 1907, Cöpenick was the largest town in the county of Teltow. Under the terms of the Greater Berlin Act of 1920, Cöpenick was incorporated as the 16th, and with an area of the largest, borough of Berlin. Apart from the former town of Cöpenick proper, the borough included the parishes of Oberschöneweide, Grünau, Schmöckwitz, Müggelheim, Rahnsdorf and Friedrichshagen. In 1931, the borough's spelling was officially amended from Cöpenick to nowadays' Köpenick.

In the months that followed the Nazi's rise to power, SA storm troops abducted and brutally tortured residents they considered political adversaries. In June 1933 the terror culminated in the Week of Blood, that left at least 24 Nazi opponents across the political spectrum dead and many more maimed. One of the sites at which the atrocities took place, the prison annex to the district court at Mandrellaplatz, has been turned into a museum.

During the Cold War, Köpenick was part of the Soviet sector and thus East Berlin.

As a result of the 2001 administrative reform, the Berlin borough of Köpenick was merged with that of Treptow to create the current borough of Treptow-Köpenick.

Until it was decommissioned in 2002, a large radio facility for MW and FM was located near the Uhlenhorst neighbourhood, including a self-radiating radio mast, which was insulated against earth. Following decommissioning, the FM services of this facility were moved to the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz and the AM transmitters were moved to a new aerial mast at Zehlendorf bei Oranienburg.

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