The construction of Neuhardenberg Manor, with interior designs by
Carl Gotthard Langhans, dates from the late 18th century. In 1763 the Prussian general Joachim Bernhard von Prittwitz had received Quilitz, a former property of the
Pfuel noble family. The historic village was devastated by a blaze in 1801 and reconstructed as a
Neoclassical model settlement according to plans by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel. In 1814 King
Frederick William III vested Hardenberg with the locality together with the princely title as a gratification for his merits as Prussian state chancellor. From 1820 on Schinkel also rebuilt the mansion, while the gardens were redesigned by
Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and
Peter-Joseph Lenné. During the Third Reich, the Ministry of Aviation (RLM) used the estate of Count (
Graf) Hardenberg to establish an auxiliary airfield known as
E-hafen. This was a secret test site for rocket motors and rocket boosters, developed by
Hellmuth Walter and
Wernher von Braun. Later,
Count von Hardenberg held clandestine meetings at the mansion in preparation for the
20 July plot to kill Hitler. After its failure, he was arrested and his properties were seized by the
Nazi authorities. During
World War II, there were two
forced labour subcamps of the
Stalag III-C prisoner-of-war camp in the settlement. In 1945 Hardenberg again had to face the condemnation of his estates by the
Soviet Military Administration. The mansion was turned into a school building. From 1957 on the Marxwalde airfield, built in the 1930s, was extended as the base of an
East German Air Force wing. After
reunification the manor was restored to the Hardenberg family and acquired by the
Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband saving banks association in 1996. After renovation it was reopened in 2002. It is today used as a conference building but also for cultural events. ==Demography==