Küstriner Vorland is a municipality

Municipalities of Germany

Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...

 in the district Märkisch-Oderland

Märkisch-Oderland

Märkisch-Oderland is a Landkreis in the eastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are the district Barnim, the country Poland, the district-free city Frankfurt , the district Oder-Spree and the Bundesland Berlin...

, in Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 at the border with Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

.

History

It was established on January 1, 1998 by the merger of Küstrin-Kietz

Küstrin-Kietz

Küstrin-Kietz is a small village located in the German state of Brandenburg, at the Oder river and the border with Poland. Since 1998 it is part of the Küstriner Vorland municipality.-Overview:...

 with the villages of Gorgast and Manschnow. Küstriner Vorland is part of the Amt ("municipal federation") Golzow

Golzow (Amt)

Golzow is an Amt in the district of Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany. Its seat is in Golzow.The Amt Golzow consists of the following municipalities:#Alt Tucheband#Bleyen-Genschmar#Golzow#Küstriner Vorland#Zechin...

.

The settlement of Küstrin-Kietz formed the western part of Küstrin

Küstrin

Before 1945 Küstrin was a town in the former Prussian province of Brandenburg in Germany, situated on both sides of the Oder river...

 (Polish Kostrzyn nad Odrą

Kostrzyn nad Odra

Kostrzyn nad Odrą is a town in western Poland, at the confluence of the Oder and Warta rivers, on the border with Germany. Located in the Lubusz Voivodeship, in Gorzów County, it had 19,952 inhabitants as of 2007.- History :...

 today) until it was split off by the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line

Oder-Neisse line

The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...

 in 1945. The town's quarters west of the Oder River then belonged to East Germany and were renamed Kietz in 1954. In a 1991 vote the inhabitants chose to readopt the historic denotation.

The incorporated village of Gorgast, once a commandry of the Order of Saint John, features a historic fort

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

 finished in 1889 in addition to the Küstrin fortification system and a park laid out according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné

Peter Joseph Lenné

Peter Joseph Lenné was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect from Bonn who worked in the German classicist style.-Childhood and development:...

.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assambly (Gemeinderat) as of 2008 elections:

• IG Küstriner Vorland (Free Voters
  Free Voters
  Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the...
  
  ): 9
• The Left
  The Left (Germany)
  The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag....
  
  : 3
• Pro Zukunft (Free Voters): 1
• Evangelical
  Evangelical Church in Germany
  The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
  
   parish: 1
• Independent
  Independent (politician)
  In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
  
  : 2

Transportation

The border crossing at Küstrin-Kietz is the eastern terminus of the Bundesstraße 1

Bundesstraße 1

The Bundesstraße 1 or B1 is a German federal highway running in an east-west direction from the Dutch border near Aachen to the Polish border at Küstrin-Kietz on the Oder River.-Route description:...

 federal highway from Aachen

Aachen

Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

 via Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. It is continued by the Polish national road

National roads in Poland

National road in Poland refers to a public trunk road controlled by the Polish central government authority, the General Directorship of National Roads and Motorways...

 No. 22 to Gorzów Wielkopolski

Gorzów Wielkopolski

Gorzów Wielkopolski is a city in western Poland, on the Warta river. It is the biggest city in the Lubusz Voivodeship with 125,149 inhabitants...

 and Elbląg

Elblag

Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...

.

Küstrin-Kietz as well as Gorgast also have access to local trains running on the former Prussian Eastern Railway from Berlin-Lichtenberg to Kostrzyn.

External links