1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Custrin

CÜSTRIN, or Küstrin, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, a fortress of the first rank, at the confluence of the Oder and Warthe, 18 m. N.E. from Frankfort-on-Oder and 51 m. N.E. of Berlin by rail. Pop. (1900) 16,473 (including the garrison). It consists of the town proper within the strong fortifications, a suburb on the left bank of the Oder, and one on the right bank of the Warthe. There are three Evangelical churches and one Roman Catholic, and a handsome town hall. There are bridges over both rivers. Cüstrin has some manufactories of potato-meal, machinery, pianos, furniture, cigars, &c., and there is a considerable river trade.

About 1250 a town was erected on the site of Cüstrin, where a fishing village originally stood. From 1535 till 1571 it was the residence of John, margrave of Brandenburg-Cüstrin, who died without male heirs in 1571. Cüstrin was the prison of Frederick the Great when crown-prince, and the scene of the execution of his friend Hans Hermann von Katte on the 6th of November 1730.