Schorfheide, Brandenburg

Schorfheide is a municipality in the Barnim district of Brandenburg, Germany. It was established in 2003 by the merger of Finowfurt and Groß Schönebeck.

History
On 26 October 2003, the municipality of Schorfheide was formed by merging the municipalities of Finowfurt and Groß Schönebeck.

From 1815 to 1947, Finowfurt and Groß Schönebeck were part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, from 1947 to 1952 of the State of Brandenburg, from 1952 to 1990 of the East German Bezirk Frankfurt and since 1990 again of Brandenburg, since 2003 united as the municipality of Schorfheide.

Overview
Schorfheide further comprises the villages of Altenhof, Böhmerheide, Eichhorst, Klandorf, Lichterfelde, Schluft and Werbellin. It is situated immediately west of the district's capital Eberswalde and about 40 km northeast of the Berlin city centre. Schorfheide is the largest municipality of Barnim by area. Large parts belong to the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve.

In the 13th century the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg built a castle at the southern end of the Werbellinsee. In 1879 Prince Charles of Prussia had the Ascania Tower erected at the site. Groß Schönebeck houses a hunting lodge erected from 1680 at the behest of the Brandenburg Elector Frederick William I of Hohenzollern, now a museum. From 1950 until 1989 Altenhof was the site of the Pionierrepublik Wilhelm Pieck, a large camp of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation.

Twin towns

 * 🇩🇪 Korschenbroich, Germany
 * 🇵🇱 Mielno, Poland
 * 🇫🇷 Carbonne, France