© city-map AG ‐ Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Why one always sees the name Bredow in Havelland!

In the olden days, so say the old legends, the devil had once again stuffed his sack with noble people, who were to burn hell. On his way to hell the sack got stuck on the spire of Friesack and the masters tumbled out. The oldest brother stayed right there in Friesack, the second wandered inland and founded Landin. The third brother walk the same way and founded  Selbelang, the fourth one took a right turn and founded Retzow, the fifth just named his new founded village after himself - Bredow and the sixth brother finally, full of fear screamed before the plunge " Ich wag's nit!" (I don't dare)and so this village was named Wagenitz.

In reality, in the 12th-century, the German knights under Albrecht the bear had one knight with the name Arnold von Bredow with them during the east expansion. He got, as his share from the spoils of war, a few Slavic fishing villages. His sons married so cleverly that soon half of the Havelland was theirs - 31 villages. But the Bredows were often on bad terms with each other and of course badly in debt. Still they were able to manage the region Havelland decisively for centuries.


The pictures + content on this page were kindly made available by Stadtmagazinverlag AS GmbH. Photo: Stadtmagazinverlag AS