Bresegard bei Picher is a small

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the German state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

. Often it is simply referred to simply as Bresegard. There is another municipality within Mecklenburg also called Bresegard and to differentiate the two 'bei Picher' is added, signifying a close proximity to the town of Picher. The other Bresegard is near the town of

Eldena Eldena is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe ...

and is called Bresegard bei Eldena. Bresegard bei Picher, part of the ''Amt'' of Hagenow-Land and the district (Landkreis) of

Ludwigslust Ludwigslust () is a central castle town of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 40 km south of Schwerin. Since 2011 it has been part of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Ludwigslust is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The former royal re ...

, is near the main highway between

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

History

This area of Germany (Mecklenburg) had once been inhabited by Slavic peoples, and the suffix 'gard' in the name Bresegard reflects this.Slavic towns may often have the suffix 'grad', which means town or city. Although the suffix 'gard' may be spelled differently the root link to the Slavic languages can be discerned. The place name, originally from the Slavic, later as 'Birkenbirge', and finally as Bresegard, had the root meaning of "birch tree mountain". The Bresegard crest depicts a birch tree on a mound, the seed pods represent the number of roads leading into the village. The first known mention of Bresegard was in 1421 by Albrecht V. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in his compilation of land ownership, and was known then as "Brezegure". There are some indications that in the 15th and 16th centuries there may have been windmills in place. During the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

much of the area surrounding Bresegard was devastated. By the 17th and 18th centuries small farmers began to populate the area. Bresegard bei Picher was part of the area initially captured or occupied by American troops at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Bresegard was on the American side of the

line of contact The Line of Contact marked the farthest advance of American, British, French, and Soviet armies into German controlled territory at the end of World War II in Europe. In general a "line of contact" refers to the demarcation between two or m ...

between American and Soviet forces. Due to previous agreements by the Allied powers, this part of Germany was transferred to Soviet control several weeks after American occupation. As a small remote village, Bresegard did not suffer wartime destruction.

References

{{Authority control Ludwigslust-Parchim