Potsdams

Potsdams is a toponym that can refer to more than one place named Potsdam. The most prominent is Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg, located immediately southwest of Berlin. Potsdam is known for its historic palaces and gardens, including Sanssouci, a former residence of Frederick the Great, and for its role as a cultural and scientific hub. The city hosts the University of Potsdam and the Babelsberg Film Studio, one of the oldest large-scale film studios in the world.

Outside Germany, the name Potsdam is used for several smaller towns and villages, most notably Potsdam, New York, a village in St. Lawrence County. In practice, references to Potsdams usually imply one of the Potsdams in Germany, but the plural form may appear in discussions of places that share the same name.

Etymology is tied to the common German place-name element dam, and the usage expands in maps and travel guides that list all places named Potsdam. In historical contexts, Potsdam, Germany is associated with the Potsdam Conference of 1945, which shaped postwar Europe.