A nest of the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) was discovered on 23 July 2026 under the roof overhang of an office building in Eisenhüttenstadt, the first ever recorded in Brandenburg.
Beekeeper Holger Ackermann, spokesman for the Brandenburg Beekeepers Association, will lead a removal operation on 24 July, using plastic bags, a cool bag, and a two-day deep freeze to kill the estimated 50 to 100 hornets.
The discovery in eastern Brandenburg, far from known populations along the Elbe in Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, suggests a queen was accidentally transported by humans, similar to a 2023 case in Berlin that was quickly eradicated.
On 23 July 2026, a nest of the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) was found under the roof overhang of an office building in Eisenhüttenstadt, a city on the Polish border. It is the first confirmed sighting of the invasive species in Brandenburg. The nest is described as fast-growing, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in Potsdam confirmed the find. Until now, the hornet had been spreading mainly in western German states, with established populations along the Elbe in Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony.
Beekeeper Holger Ackermann, spokesman for the Brandenburg Beekeepers Association, will lead the removal on the morning of 24 July. He estimates the nest contains 50 to 100 hornets. The team will wear special protective suits and follow a precise sequence: plastic bags are placed over the nest, the hornets are transferred into a cool bag to make them sluggish, and then they are kept in a deep freezer for two days until dead.
“You have to work quickly and in a well-organised way.”
Ackermann dismissed panic, saying, "It is not a killer hornet." The beekeepers have been preparing for such a find for about two years, consulting experts from across Germany. This is the first operation of its kind in Brandenburg.
The dead hornets will undergo genetic analysis in a laboratory to determine how they reached eastern Brandenburg. The ministry noted that the location is surprising because previous sightings were expected in the west of the state, closer to the known Elbe corridor. The current hypothesis is that a queen was accidentally transported by humans. A similar isolated case occurred in Berlin in 2023, where rapid nest removal prevented further settlement.
“The current find on the eastern state border is surprising and presumably goes back to a queen accidentally introduced by humans.”
The Asian hornet preys heavily on honeybees, making it a serious concern for beekeepers and biodiversity. Nests are systematically destroyed in Germany to limit its spread. For people, a single hornet away from the nest is not aggressive, but caution is needed near nests built in carports, sheds, garages, or barns, as the insects will defend them vigorously if disturbed.
“Away from the nest, it does not behave aggressively towards humans.”
Because the Eisenhüttenstadt nest is isolated from the species' main range, experts see a good chance of preventing further expansion in the area.
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Specialists in Eisenhüttenstadt will freeze a nest of the invasive Asian hornet, the first ever found in Brandenburg, to protect honeybees and trace its origin.
AI text based on reports by ZEIT ONLINE, Süddeutsche Zeitung, DIE WELT and other publishers. Published .