Beelitz

Beelitz is a historic town in Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is chiefly known for its cultivation of white asparagus (Beelitzer Spargel), which is quite popular within the Berlin-Brandenburg region.GeographyBeelitz is situated about 18 km south of Potsdam, on the rim of the Zauche glacial sandur plain. The town is surrounded by extended pine woods of the Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park.Located on an old trade route from Berlin to Leipzig, today the Bundesstraße 2, it also has access to the Bundesautobahn 9 at the Beelitz-Heilstätten and Beelitz junctions. Train service to Potsdam and Berlin via the Berlin-Blankenheim railway line is available at two railway stations.HistoryA 997 deed by Emperor Otto III mentions a settlement with the Slavic name Belizi, though this denotation may also refer to the nearby town of Belzig.The Saint Mary and Saint Nicholas parish church was first mentioned in a 1247 report of a Jewish host desecration, and bleeding host miracle, that made Beelitz a medieval pilgrimage site. Since 1370 the host was kept in a small chapel adjacent to the church. The reason for the former name of the Judenberg (renamed Friedensberg after 1945) before the Mühlentor is not confirmed, though tradition indicates it was the site of the burning of Jews.