DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Brandenburg
Landkreis: Spree-Neiße

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Guben is situated at an elevation of 45 m on the river Lausitzer Neiße (Nysa Łużicka) in eastern Brandenburg at the border to Poland.

The place was founded around 1200 by the margrave of Meißen at the crossroads of important trading paths from Leipzig to Posen (now Poznań) and from Görlitz (Zgorzelec) to Stettin (now Szczecin) and the Baltic Sea. Guben obtained the status of a town in 1235. From 1367 onward it belonged to the Bohemian Crown before it was returned to the Electorate of Saxony in 1635. In 1815 Guben became a district town in the Prussian province of Brandenburg. The modern development began in 1816 when the first wool spinning mill was opened. The production of hats began in 1854 and soon the millineries of Guben produced about two thirds of all hats sold in all Germany. In 1945 about 90% of the town was destroyed. After the war, the town was divided and the eastern part of the town (Polish: Gubin) became part of Poland. Between 1961 and 1990 the town was officially named Wilhelm-Pieck-Stadt Guben because Wilhelm Pieck (1876–1960), the first President (1949–1960) of the German Democratic Republic, was born here.

Since 1989 there is an intensive cooperation between the two parts of the divided city. A formal partnership was signed in 1991 and a "common structural plan for the Euro-city of Guben/Gubin" was agreed in 1996. Water and electricity is supplied by Guben while the joint sewage plant is located in Gubin.

The top picture on glass no. 1608 [left] shows the bridge across the river Neiße (Nysa), which was rebuilt in 1922/1923. The street in the background left is the Frankfurterstraße (during the period of the Third Reich renamed Adolf-Hitler-Straße).

The history of the Protestant Klosterkirche [background right] goes back to a Benedictine nunnery which was founded at this place at the end of the 12th century. The original church was destroyed in 1429 by the Hussites. The second church became Protestant when the nunnery was closed around 1562. That church became decrepit during the 19th century and was torn down in 1860. The present church was built in Neogothic style in 1860–1862. Unlike almost all of the remainig town it was not destroyed in 1945. Modern painted glass windows were installed in 1998/1999.

The bottom left and bottom right pictures depict buildings which since 1945 are part of Gubin in Poland and are described there.