The oldest surviving document that mentions the city of Luckau (Sorbian Lukkowe) dates from 1276. The Luckau Treaty was concluded in 1351. As a wealthy city, it became one of the capitals of Lower Lusatia in 1492. At that time, Luckau was a mixed German and Sorbian-speaking small town in a Sorbian-speaking area. At the end of the 18th century, the German-(Lower) Sorbian language border ran only three kilometers northeast of the city[4], and the neighboring villages of Schollen, Karche, Zaacko and Cahnsdorf were still Sorbian-speaking at that time.
With the Peace of Prague in 1635, the Saxon Elector was enfeoffed with the Margravate of Lower Lusatia, which until then had been under Bohemian suzerainty.
During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedes developed the city as their main base; It suffered severe damage as a result of the subsequent clashes.
On June 4, 1813, during the war of freedom, the advance of French units on Berlin was thwarted by the allied Russian-Prussian troops in the battle of Luckau. Napoleon stayed in Luckau on July 20th and 21st, 1813 as part of a troop inspection. He moved into quarters on the upper floor of the merchant Vogt's summer house. This merchant was the richest man in the city at the time. He was so rich that even the city of Luckau borrowed money from him. Since it was very cold that July night, Napoleon had a copper hot water bottle brought to his bed. This hot water bottle can still be seen today in the Niederlausitz Museum in Luckau.
By resolution of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Lower Lusatia became Prussian, the margravate was dissolved and the area of Lower Lusatia and with it the city of Luckau were annexed to the province of Brandenburg.
From 1816 to 1952 the city was the administrative seat of the Luckau district and was a well-known mud bath at the beginning of the 20th century. From 1952 to 1993, Luckau was the district seat of the Luckau district (until 1990 in the GDR Cottbus district).
At the time of National Socialism and during the Second World War, the Alteno air base was located in the Alteno district. It was mainly used to train Air Force pilots. It wasn't until 1944/45 that active flying units were based here. Later, the Air Force of the National People's Army used the airfield as a decentralization airfield for the Fighter Squadron 1 “Fritz Schmenkel”.
Source: Wikipedia