Oranienburg

Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.

Geography
Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.

Division of the town
Oranienburg consists of 9 districts
 * Friedrichsthal
 * Germendorf
 * Lehnitz
 * Malz
 * Oranienburg
 * Sachsenhausen
 * Schmachtenhagen
 * Wensickendorf
 * Zehlendorf

History
The original name of Oranienburg was Bötzow. The town was founded in the 12th century and was first mentioned in 1216. Albert the Bear is believed to have ordered the construction of a castle on the banks of the Havel. Around the castle there was a settlement of traders and craftsmen.

In 1646, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg married Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau (German: Oranien-Nassau). She was so attracted by the town of Bötzow, that her husband presented the entire region to her. The princess ordered a new castle to be built in Dutch style and called it Oranienburg. In 1653, the town of Bötzow was renamed Oranienburg.

One of the first Nazi concentration camps was built in Oranienburg in 1933. In 1935 it was replaced by the Sachsenhausen concentration camp which continued to operate until the end of the Nazi regime; 100,000 people were killed in Sachsenhausen before the liberation of the camp by the Soviet Red Army in 1945.

Oranienburg was also the center of Nazi Germany's nuclear energy project and according to military historian Antony Beevor, the launching of the Battle for Berlin by Stalin was motivated by his desire to acquire that facility. It has also been claimed that the preemptive destruction of these facilities by the USAAF Eighth Air Force on March 15, 1945, was done so as to prevent it from falling into Soviet hands.

International relations
Oranienburg is twinned with:
 * [[Image:Flag of France.svg|25px]] Bagnolet (France) -- since 1964
 * [[Image:Flag of Germany.svg|25px]] Hamm (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) -- since 1990
 * [[Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg|25px]] Mělník (Czech Republic) -- since 1974
 * [[Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg|25px]] Vught (Netherlands) -- since 2000
 * [[Image:Flag of Germany.svg|25px]] Friedrichsthal (Saarland, Germany) -- since 1991

Public institutions
The Zehlendorf transmission facility, a large facility for broadcasting in longwave, medium wave and FM-range, is located near Oranienburg, at Zehlendorf.